What Is Othello?

Othello (also known as Reversi) is a two-player board game played with black and white discs on an 8×8 board of 64 squares. You flip your opponent's discs to your own color by flanking them, and whoever has more discs of their color at the end wins. The rules are simple, but the game gets deep fast.

The first player is Black, the second is White. Black moves first, and players then alternate placing one disc at a time.

The Starting Setup

At the start, four discs are placed in the center of the board in a diagonal pattern:

  • White on the top-left and bottom-right of the center square
  • Black on the top-right and bottom-left

In coordinates, that's White on d4 and e5, Black on e4 and d5. These four discs are the footholds for the first flanking moves.

How to Place a Disc — "Flank and Flip"

On your turn, you may only play on a square that meets this condition:

🔑 Where you can play The disc you place, together with another of your discs already on the board, must flank one or more of the opponent's discs in a straight line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal).

When you place the disc, every flanked opponent disc flips to your color. If you flank in several directions at once, discs in all of those directions flip.

Conversely, you cannot play on a square where you would flip no discs at all. This is the single most important rule in Othello.

Legal vs. illegal examples

  • Legal: with a line of Black → White → (empty), playing Black on the empty square flips the White disc between them.
  • Illegal: if there is a gap, or the line isn't closed by one of your own discs, you can't flank — so you can't play there.

Passing

If you have no legal move (nowhere that flips a disc), your turn is passed and your opponent plays again. You may not pass voluntarily when a legal move exists. When neither player can move, the game ends.

Game End & Winning

The game ends when either:

  • all 64 squares are filled, or
  • neither player has a legal move (consecutive passes).

At the end, the color with more discs on the board wins. Equal counts are a draw. If the game ends before the board is full, the remaining empty squares are counted for the winner.

💡 The beginner's trap Because "more discs wins," it's tempting to flip as many as possible early. That instinct backfires. In the opening, it's usually better to take fewer discs. The next article explains why.

Reading Coordinates

Othello labels columns a–h and rows 1–8. The top-left is a1, the bottom-right is h8. Move records and openings use this notation — "f5", "d3", and so on. The Game Dojo app uses the same system.

Summary

  • Black moves first, from the four-disc center setup
  • You may only play where you flank and flip — flanked discs all flip
  • Pass when you have no legal move
  • Most discs at the end wins

That's all there is to the rules. The best way to learn them is to play, so start a game against the AI and give it a try.

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