Porchlight › How to play › Reversi
How to play Reversi
A board game for two players. Place discs to trap your opponent's discs between yours and flip them to your color.
The aim
Have more discs of your color on the board than your opponent when the game ends.
Setting up
The board is 8 × 8. One player is dark and the other is light. The game starts with four discs in the center, two of each color, arranged diagonally. Dark always moves first. Who plays dark is drawn at random each game.
Playing
On your turn, place one disc of your color on an empty square.
- The disc must flank at least one line of your opponent's discs: a straight, unbroken line of their discs, running across, up and down or diagonally, with your new disc at one end and another of your discs at the other.
- Every opposing disc in every line you flank flips to your color. One move can flip lines in several directions at once.
- A move that would flip nothing is not allowed.
If you have no legal move, you pass. This happens automatically, and the status line tells both players. Your opponent then moves again. You can't pass while you have a legal move.
Winning
The game ends when neither player can move. Usually that's because the board is full, but it can happen sooner.
The player with more discs of their color on the board wins. Empty squares count for nobody. Equal counts make the game a draw.
Table options
Reversi has no rules options. The host can set the turn timer:
| Option | Choices | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Turn timer | Normal, Relaxed (twice as long), Quick (half as long) | Normal |
Ranked games always use the default.
On Porchlight
- Your legal moves are marked with small dots. Click one to play there.
- Flipped discs turn over, and the disc just played is marked.
- The score bar above the board shows each player's disc count and whose turn it is.
- With a keyboard, the arrow keys move around the board and Enter or Space plays.
Computer player. There is one level. It looks a move ahead, weighs your likely reply, values corners and edges, and counts discs toward the end.
The turn timer. On a Normal timer you have 30 seconds per move. If time runs out, the computer makes one move for you. If it runs out again on your very next turn, you forfeit the game. You also forfeit if you leave, or if your connection drops and you don't come back within about a minute.
Tips
- Corners can never be flipped. Take them whenever you can.
- Be wary of the squares next to an empty corner, especially the diagonal one. Playing there often gives your opponent the corner.
- Flipping many discs early is not the goal. Until late in the game, having more moves available than your opponent usually matters more.
- Forcing your opponent to pass is strong: you get two moves in a row.