Reversi

Trap their sweets between yours to turn them over

How to play

Reversi on Matsuri is free online reversi for two players, the flipping game also known as Othello: place sweets on an 8 by 8 board, trap the other side's sweets between yours to turn them over, and finish with more of your colour. Send a friend an invite link to play in Telegram or any browser, or play Mocha, the hall's host. It runs on phone or desktop and inside Telegram via @MatsuriGamesBot, with no download or sign-up.

Reversi is a two-player strategy game on an 8 by 8 board, starting from four sweets in a diagonal cross in the middle. Every move must trap a straight line of the other player's sweets between your new sweet and one already on the board, and all trapped sweets turn to your colour, in every direction at once. Squares you may play are marked with a dot. With no move you pass; when neither player can move, whoever has more sweets wins. Corners can never be flipped back. Play a friend by invite link, in Telegram or any browser, or play Mocha, who prizes corners and looks four moves ahead.

  1. Tap a square with a dot: your new sweet must trap a straight line of the other player's sweets between it and one of yours.
  2. Every trapped sweet flips to your colour, in all directions at once. No move? Your turn is skipped.
  3. When neither of you can move, whoever has more sweets on the board wins. Corners can never be flipped back.

How to play Reversi

The game starts with four sweets in the middle, two of each colour set diagonally in a cross, and the first seat moves first. A move must trap at least one straight line of the other player's sweets, across, down or diagonally, between the new sweet and one of yours already on the board. Every trapped sweet in every direction turns to your colour at once. Squares where you may play are marked with a dot, so you never have to hunt for a legal move, and each player's strip shows how many sweets they have.

If you have no legal move, your turn is skipped and the other player moves again. When neither player can move, usually because the board is full, the game ends: whoever has more sweets on the board wins, and an equal count is a draw. A sweet in a corner can never be flipped back, which is why corners decide so many games. In a rematch the seats turn so the other player starts.

To play, tap or click one of the dotted squares. The sweets you trap turn over one after another from the sweet you placed, and the last move is ringed so you can see what the other player just did. You never need to count flips yourself: the strips under the board keep each player's total, and the game itself works out when someone has to pass.

Reversi strategy and tips

  • Corners first. A corner sweet can never be flipped, and the edge sweets beside it become safe once it is yours.
  • Stay off the squares diagonally next to an empty corner, and be careful with the edge squares beside it: playing there often hands the corner to the other side.
  • Count moves, not sweets. In the opening and the middle game, flipping fewer sweets usually leaves the other player with fewer options, and the player with more choices later gets the corners.
  • Prefer quiet moves. A move that flips a sweet in the middle and opens no new squares for your opponent is often stronger than a big flip that leaves many of your sweets on the edge of the crowd.
  • Near the end, start counting. With a dozen squares left, the number of sweets begins to matter, and forcing the other player to pass can give you several moves in a row.

Modes and difficulty

Play a friend: open a table and send the invite link; the game starts when they sit down, and anyone else who opens it can watch. Play Mocha: she searches four moves ahead, values corners, avoids the squares next to an empty corner and tries to keep more moves open than you. A casual player usually loses to her, but a careful one can win. After a game, ask for a rematch. There are no levels or rankings.

Playing Reversi on Matsuri

The server keeps the board and checks every move, and it decides passes and the end of the game, so nobody can play a move the rules do not allow. Mocha reacts to big flips, corners and close finishes. A game pays a little candy once at least 20 moves have been played (a whole game is about 60): against a friend 15 for a win, 8 for a draw and 5 for a loss, against Mocha 6 for a win, within the day's candy budget.

A little history

Reversi was published in England in the 1880s, and two Londoners, Lewis Waterman and John W. Mollett, each claimed to have invented it. In 1970s Japan, Goro Hasegawa brought out the version sold as Othello, with the fixed diagonal start used here, and it became one of the best-selling board games in the world, with a world championship held every year since 1977. In 1997 the program Logistello beat the reigning world champion, Takeshi Murakami, six games to none, one of the first times a computer clearly beat the best human at a classic board game.

Questions

Is reversi the same as Othello?
Othello is a trademarked version of reversi with the same rules and the same starting cross of four sweets. This game plays by those rules: trap a line to flip it, pass with no move, and the most sweets wins.
What happens if I cannot move?
Your turn is skipped and the other player moves again. When neither player can move, the game ends.
Can reversi end in a draw?
Yes. If both players have the same number of sweets on the board when the game ends, it is a draw.
Can I play reversi online with a friend for free?
Yes. Send a friend the invite link and play in Telegram or any browser, or play Mocha, who looks four moves ahead and loves corners.
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