Scoring
Reversi scoring
The short answer
When neither player can move, count the discs showing on the board. The player with more discs of their colour wins, and an equal count is a draw. Nothing else scores. In tournaments, any squares still empty are added to the winner's total so the two scores add up to 64.
Scoring is the simplest part of the game and the part people most often overthink. There are no points for corners, no bonus for a long run and no credit for discs you flipped earlier and lost again. You count what is on the board at the end, and that is the whole of it.
The rule
- Play until neither player has a legal move.
- Count the black discs showing. Count the white discs showing.
- The larger number wins. Equal numbers are a draw.
The board has 64 squares, so on a full board the two counts always add to 64. That gives you a shortcut: count the smaller colour and subtract from 64. Counting 22 white discs on a full board means Black has 42, and you have saved yourself the second count.
Worked example: a normal finish
This is a complete 60 move game played out to a full board.
Count the white discs: 30. Subtract from 64 and Black has 34. Black wins by 4 discs. That margin, 34 to 30, is the score you would write down, and the winner is Black.
Worked example: a draw
A drawn full board is always 32 to 32, because 64 splits evenly. Draws are uncommon but not rare, and they feel strange the first time one happens.
Black 32, White 32. Nobody wins. In a tournament each player takes half a point, and the World Othello Federation records the score as 32-32 whatever the board looked like.
Worked example: the board does not fill up
A game can finish with squares still empty, because the end condition is that neither player has a legal move, not that the board is full. Here is a game that stopped after 59 moves with 1 square still empty.
On the board it is Black 24, White 39. White wins, because 39 is more than 24. That is the casual result and it is correct.
In tournament play the 1 empty square goes to the winner, so the recorded score is White 40, Black 24. The two now add up to 64.
Why tournaments hand the empty squares over
Most tournaments break ties on total disc difference across all your games. If one game ended 33 to 29 with two blanks and another ended 35 to 29 with none, the first player was arguably a touch further ahead, but the raw counts make them look different. Awarding the blanks to the winner puts every game on the same 64 disc scale, so a margin means the same thing in every round.
It never changes who won. The winner already had more discs; the rule only adjusts the margin. The official Othello rules page covers this and the rest of the tournament conventions, with links to the World Othello Federation.
Wipeouts
If a move flips the last disc of the other colour, that player has nothing to flip from and no legal move ever again, so the game ends there. This is a wipeout, and it can happen very early.
On the board this reads Black 13, White 0, with 51 squares never played. Hand every one of those empty squares to the winner and the tournament score is 64 to 0, the biggest margin the game allows.
Scores at a glance
| Ending | On the board | Tournament score |
|---|---|---|
| Full board win | 34 to 30 | 34 to 30, unchanged |
| Full board draw | 32 to 32 | 32 to 32 |
| Ends with squares empty | 39 to 24, 1 empty | 40 to 24 |
| Wipeout | 13 to 0, 51 empty | 64 to 0 |
Reading the score during a game
The running count is on screen the whole time you play here, and it is the most misleading number on the board. A player who is 40 to 12 down with twelve moves left is often winning. One move into a long line can flip fifteen discs back.
What matters instead is how many legal moves each side has, who owns the corners and how many of your discs can never be flipped again. Those are covered in mobility, corner strategy and stable discs. Chasing the disc count early is the most common beginner mistake, and the mistakes page starts with it.
Count one up yourself
Play a game through to the end on the board on this site and check the final count against what you expected fifteen moves earlier. The gap between those two numbers is the whole lesson. The computer opponent will happily play the ending out perfectly on Hard, which makes it a good way to see how much a finish can swing.
Related: when a game ends, endgame strategy and the complete rules.
Frequently asked questions
How do you score Othello?
Count the discs of each colour showing on the board when neither player can move. The larger count wins. An equal count is a draw. Nothing else scores: there are no points for corners, edges or captures along the way.
What happens to empty squares at the end?
In a casual game, nothing. In tournament play the empty squares are added to the winner's total so that both scores add up to 64, which keeps disc difference comparable between games. Official rules.
What is the score of a drawn game?
32 to 32 on a full board. The World Othello Federation records every draw as 32-32 even if the game finished with squares empty.
What is a wipeout worth?
A wipeout, where one player has no discs left, is scored 64 to 0 once the empty squares go to the winner. It is the largest possible margin.
Does having more discs partway through the game matter?
Almost not at all. A single move late in the game can flip fifteen discs or more. Strong players are usually behind on discs until the last ten moves. Why that works.
Is the winner the player with the most discs or the fewest?
The most, in the standard game. There is a well-known variant, sometimes called Anti-Othello or Reversed Reversi, where the fewest discs wins instead. Anti-Othello.