Step by step
How to play Reversi
The short answer
Put four discs in the centre with the colours diagonally opposite. Black moves first. Place a disc so it traps a straight line of your opponent's discs between it and one of yours, then flip that whole line. Pass only when no move flips anything. Most discs at the end wins.
Reversi is one of the few games where you can learn the rules faster than you can read the box. This page walks through a real game move by move, so by the end of it you will have seen every rule happen rather than just read about it. Othello is the same game under a trademarked name, so these are the Othello rules too.
Step 1: set up the board
You need an 8x8 board and 64 discs that are black on one side and white on the other. Put four discs on the four centre squares so that the matching colours sit diagonally opposite each other. White goes on d4 and e5, black goes on d5 and e4.
The diagonal arrangement is the part people get wrong. Laying the two colours out in rows instead gives a playable board, but it is not the Othello starting position and the game that follows is a different one. The board setup page shows both, side by side.
Step 2: Black moves first
Black always opens. From the starting position Black has exactly four choices, marked below: d3, c4, f5, e6.
The starting position is unchanged by a half turn of the board or by a reflection in either long diagonal, and those symmetries carry the four squares onto each other. So on move one the choice genuinely does not matter. Take f5. The white disc on e5 sits to its left, and the black disc on d5 sits past that, closing the line, so f5 traps e5.
Step 3: trap a line, flip a line
This is the whole game. To make a legal move you place a disc on an empty square so that at least one unbroken run of your opponent's discs sits between your new disc and another disc of your own colour. Every disc in that run flips to your colour.
The line can run in any of eight directions:
- left or right along the row
- up or down the column
- either way along either diagonal
A run has to be solid. An empty square in the middle breaks it. One of your own discs in the middle breaks it too. And you have to close it: a run of opposing discs that reaches the edge of the board with nothing of yours behind it does not count.
Back to the game. White now has 3 legal answers to f5: f4, d6, f6. Say White plays d6.
Notice how quickly the count swings. Black led 4 to 1 after one move and is level at 3 each after two. That pattern holds for the whole game, which is why counting discs in the middle tells you almost nothing.
Step 4: take turns, and pass only when stuck
Players alternate. If you have no legal move at all, you pass and your opponent plays again. You cannot pass because you feel like it. If any square would flip at least one disc, you have to play one of them.
Passing is not a punishment and it is not rare. It usually means the shape of the board has closed off your options, and it is worth paying attention to when it happens, because forcing your opponent to pass is one of the strongest things you can do. The passing rule covers it properly, and mobility is the strategy behind it.
Twenty moves into the same game the board looks like this. Black has 10 discs, White 14, and Black has 11 legal squares to choose from.
A middle game board is messier than a beginner expects. Long runs of one colour appear and vanish, and the player who is behind on discs is often the one doing well. What matters here is that Black has plenty of choices and the four corners are still empty.
Step 5: count the discs
The game ends when neither player can move. Usually that means the board is full, after 60 moves. Sometimes it happens earlier, when both players are stuck or one colour has been wiped off the board entirely.
Count the discs of each colour. More discs wins. Equal is a draw, which on a full board is always 32 to 32. Here is how the game we have been following finished.
Black won 34 to 30. In tournament play, any squares left empty at the end are added to the winner's score, so a game that stops early still adds up to 64. Scoring in detail and the three ways a game ends.
Five things to do in your first few games
The rules are done. These are the habits that stop a beginner losing badly while the rest of it sinks in.
- Take a corner whenever one is offered. Corner discs can never be flipped, because no line runs through a corner from both sides.
- Leave b2, g2, b7 and g7 alone. These four squares sit diagonally next to the corners. Playing one while the corner beside it is empty usually hands that corner over.
- Stop trying to own the most discs. For the first 40 moves, having fewer discs is usually a good sign.
- Count your legal moves against theirs. If you have nine options and they have two, you are in charge of the game.
- Undo and look. On the board here, undo is free. Play the move you were not sure about, look at what flipped, and take it back.
That is enough to beat most people who have just learned. When you want more, tips for beginners is the next step and the strategy guide is the one after that.
Play a game now
Nothing here sticks until you have played. The board on the home page starts in the position at the top of this page and marks every legal square, so you cannot make an illegal move by accident. Set the computer to Beginner for your first game, then move up. Teaching someone else is faster still: open the two player board and hand the device back and forth.
If you want the complete ruleset rather than a walkthrough, the rules page has every rule with its edge cases, and the official Othello rules covers what changes in tournament play.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play Reversi for beginners?
Set the four centre discs so the colours sit diagonally opposite. Black goes first. On your turn, place a disc on an empty square so one or more of your opponent's discs sit in a straight unbroken line between your new disc and another of your discs. Flip everything in that line. If you have no move that flips something, you pass. When neither player can move, the most discs wins.
How long does a game of Reversi take?
A casual game is five to fifteen minutes. A full board takes 60 moves, 30 each. Tournament games are played with a clock that gives each player about 30 minutes for the whole game.
Is Reversi hard to learn?
The rules take about two minutes. Playing well takes much longer, because the disc count swings wildly and the position you want in the middle of the game usually looks like you are losing.
How many players can play Reversi?
Two. One takes black, one takes white. There is no official three or four player version, although some variants split the board differently. Variants.
What is the first move in Reversi?
Black plays one of four squares: d3, c4, f5 or e6. The starting position is symmetric, so all four are the same move seen from four sides and the choice does not matter on move one. More on the first move.
Do I need a special board to play?
No. Any 8x8 board works, including a chess or draughts board, as long as you have 64 two-sided counters. You can also print a board or just play on the board on this site.