Play Reversi

Reversi is a two-player board game that tests and exercises a host of cognitive functions. The goal of Reversi is to outnumber your opponent’s pieces on the board by the end of the game. The player who has the most pieces on the board wins the match. This game is often compared to Othello, but though they are similar, they’re not the same.

How to Play Reversi

Reversi has a simple structure and is easy for beginners to comprehend. The following is how you can get your game started.

How does Reversi Work?

• The first thing you’ll need to do is select the difficulty level you’re most comfortable playing. You can choose either easy or hard.
• You can choose which color you’d like to be, either black or white.
• Using your left mouse button, select a square on the grid to make your play. This will place one of your discs within the selected square. Hovering over open squares will highlight those you can use and will not affect those not at play.

The Game

Reversi is played on an 8x8 uncheckered grid and uses 64 pieces to populate the grid called discs. Each player begins using two pieces each, located in the center four squares on the grid. Turns are taken to place pieces on the board.

Rules

Players can only place their discs opposite a line made by the opponent’s pieces. Any of your opponent’s pieces between yours will be converted to your color. Direction is irrelevant in terms of your or your opponent’s line.

The game continues until every playable square has been used and filled with discs. Afterward, each player’s discs are tallied, and the one with the most on the grid wins.

Reversi Strategy

Winning a match of Reversi takes strategy, pattern recognition, and a good deal of anticipation. Here are some tips about how to win that will help improve your game.

• In Reversi, corners are king. If you can work your way toward the corners, you gain an advantage in that no matter what, that piece is locked in and can’t be changed. Also, you’re more likely to get good traction by gaining some diagonal ground.
• Edges of the board are also advantageous because instead of three directions open for your opponent, the edge causes there to only be two. If you’re able to fill an edge column, that is a permanent 8 points that can’t be switched and used by your opponent.
• Don’t worry about taking as many pieces as possible at the beginning. There is plenty of time. Worry more about setting up a game plan that will help you take over as many as possible mid to later game stage, where one piece you place can convert several of your opponents’ pieces rather than one or two.
  
  Think of it this way: if your opponent has far more pieces on the board, your options to make big plays are far greater, and you are able to sandwich large chunks of their pieces between yours, changing them over. When done at the right time, your opponent won’t have any recourse to get those pieces back (particularly if you are able to beat them to the edges).
• Try to scheme ahead whenever possible, keep an eye out for places where you can box out your opponent. This means that your discs are laid out in such a way that there aren’t any desirable moves your opponent can make, forcing their hand to make an undesirable move. When you can do this, it almost always causes them to make mistakes or moves that will eventually work better for you than it will for them.