The "Common Sense" to Throw Out First

Othello is won by having more discs. So most beginners flip as many of the opponent's discs as they can, as early as they can. And yet that's the surest way to lose.

The count that matters is the disc count at the end of the game. However many you hold along the way is irrelevant. In fact, through the opening and middlegame, holding fewer discs tends to leave you more room to move. That is a rule of thumb, though: the number of discs you flip does not by itself decide whether a move is good.

Why "Taking Fewer" Is Stronger

The reason is mobility — the number of legal moves you have. When your discs are few and clustered toward the center, your opponent struggles to find discs of yours to flank, and their legal moves steadily dry up.

Spread your discs early, and you do the opposite: you hand the opponent more "targets" to flank, increasing their options.

🔑 The mobility principle Keep your own moves plentiful and your opponent's scarce. Judge the position by the number of playable squares, not by disc count.

Once your opponent runs out of moves, you can force them to pass, or force them into a move they don't want to make (like handing you a corner). This is the foundation of winning Othello.

Don't Build "Walls"

A long, connected row or diagonal of your own discs is called a wall. Walls give the opponent safe squares to play just outside them, and force you to keep handing over corners and edges every time you move.

In the opening, keep your discs compact near the center and avoid spreading carelessly toward the edges.

Frontier Discs — Mind the "Openness"

When a move flips discs, count the number of empty squares adjacent to the discs you flipped. This "openness" (or frontier) matters: a move with high openness (lots of empty space around it) generally gives the opponent more replies and is considered a loss.

You don't need to count precisely as a beginner. Just remember that a move that flips a big group out in open space is risky, and you'll naturally pick better moves.

💡 Improvement tip In Game Dojo, every move is scored — Best, Good, OK, Mistake, Blunder. If you flip a big pile of discs and get a Mistake, that's the "took too many" signal. Watch the ratings and develop your feel for taking fewer.

Why "Taking More" Backfires — Concretely

Flipping a big pile of discs early pushes your own discs toward the outer board. On the opponent's next turn, they suddenly have many of your discs to flank, while your own playable squares dwindle. In other words, the move after a greedy capture leaves you with fewer options — that's exactly why over-capturing hurts. In the opening, a quiet move flipping one or two discs is often the easier one to find — but no more than that. Solving 400 endgame positions exactly, the minimum-flip move was best 22.5% of the time and the maximum-flip move 19%. As a way of picking the best move, the flip count is close to useless. What actually decides it is your mobility, how many of your discs sit on the frontier, the replies open to your opponent, the effect on the corners, and parity.

Five Things to Check as a Beginner

Running through these in order will keep you out of most trouble. It does not mean the order picks the best move for you — in Othello the best move depends on reading the whole position.

  1. Check whether a corner is available — but do not take it automatically
  2. See whether you can reduce the opponent’s legal moves
  3. Check that you are not spreading your discs to the outside
  4. Make sure you are not casually playing an X- or C-square next to an empty corner
  5. Ask whether a big flip leaves the opponent with more options

For more, see Corners and Danger Squares.

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Written and verified by MitchieRuns and edits Game DojoEditorial policy