Reversi is easy to play, but not so easy to win ... until you know the secret. Here's the key to becoming a Reversi player who can challenge anyone.

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Reversi has been a popular two-player game since it was first published in England more than a century ago. Although there are several variants, the most popular is the one we have on Games4TV, which plays on an 8x8 grid.

The Reversi game is also published by a number of companies as Othello (under license from the Japanese game company Tsukuda, who holds the Othello trademark for it). There are many very serious Reversi players around the world, and there are some masterful computer versions which look ahead and explore every move, and are almost impossible to beat.

The Games4TV computer opponent plays a 'medium-level' game, and uses the strategy which every good Reversi player knows: control the corners. It's easy to understand and, once you get it, you can often beat the computer player, as well as offering a fun and challenging game to your friends, family, and visitors.

Reversi Basics

The basic moves of Reversi are simple. Surround your opponent's stones with yours, in a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal direction, and you'll capture them and 'reverse' them to yours.

Every move you make must capture at least one opponent stone. If it doesn't, you can't place your stone in that square. In the picture below, the circles show where the white stones can be placed in this board layout, with an arrow showing the white stone on the other side of the black stone that it will capture.

Playing for the Corners

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The picture at below demonstrates the power of the corner. In the left picture, white appears to be well ahead, with 27 stones to black's 16. But as soon as black takes the corner, in the right picture, the stones along both the vertical and diagonal flip, and black is ahead 24 to 20.

Now, let's look at why black was able to take that corner. White had placed his pieces in the spots next to the corner. As soon as black was able to get one of his pieces somewhere on the board to make a row, column or diagonal, the corner was his!

The corner is the most powerful spot! First, you have the opportunity to change a lot of stones to yours when you get it. But even more important, once you have it, you cannot be surrounded and captured. As Reversi plays out, spots may change colors many times, and the one who appears to be ahead may not be the winner in the end. The player who controls the corners usually will be the winner. Always take a corner when you can.

Keeping the Corners from your Opponent

The reason black was able to take the corner was that white had placed his stones in spots that gave black the corner. Remember, every move must be a capture, so if there isn't an opponent's stone next to the spot, you won't be able to put your stone there. In the picture at right, the exclamation marks show the tempting places that white should not take, because any of them will give black the corner. Black cannot take the corner until one of those spots has a white piece in it.

Now, at this point you may be noticing that black has a piece next to the other corner. Black has made a dangerous play that may come back to haunt him if white is able to take the upper right corner -- white would be able to flip the entire row, as well as occupy both corners, if black gives him the opening to do it.

The most dangerous spot of all is the spot next to a corner in the diagonal direction, and those are usually some of the last moves made in a Reversi game. It's very easy for your opponent to flip a piece somewhere down on the diagonal during another play. As soon as he has one, your piece on the diagonal next to the corner lets him take the corner.

The Power Spots in Reversi

You want to avoid playing your piece next to the corner, and if you can, you want to force your opponent to play his pieces there. Remember, not only does every play have to be a capture, but a player must make a move on his turn, if there are any moves possible (even if they are only bad moves).

To control access to the corners and to get your opponent to play in the dangerous places, the power spots you want are the ones two squares away from the corners.

And how do you get those? Well, the squares that are two squares away from those are the ones that control them. This diagram shows the important spots to play for. The corners (1) are the most important spots, the squares controlling them (2) are the next most important, and the squares controlling those (3) are where you want to get early in the game.

The strategy of going for the power spots are the key to playing a good game of Reversi. You don't have to (and won't) get them all, but the more of them that you can get, and then use wisely to control the corners, the better Reversi player you'll be. In fact, with just this strategy alone, you'll be able to play a pretty good game.

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Playing another Human Player

With our Games4TV Reversi in 2-player mode, you can play against a family member or friend. The computer player is turned off, and both black and white moves are made by the human player -- the game board just enforces the rules and counts the stones.

Play by passing the mouse or tablet back and forth. It's actually better to play on the Games4TV board than a physical board, because you don't have to turn the pieces, and they don't get dislodged when the board is bumped.

One thing about human beings -- they don't always think logically, especially when there's something attractive that lures them. Good Reversi players sometimes use this to their advantage, by luring their opponent into making those bad plays that yield the corner. After all, if placing a stone is going to flip a lot of stones to your color, it's easy to get get excited about all those stones, and overlook that a corner will be given up by that play.

Remember that it doesn't matter who's ahead during the game -- it only matters who has the most stones at the end. A lot of good players only take a few pieces in their opening moves, because they're going for position rather than the number of pieces.

Working Out Strategies in 2-Player Mode

Games4TV Reversi lets you go back and forth between one-player mode, where the computer opponent plays black, and two-player mode, where both moves are made by the mouse or touch. You can change modes between moves in the same game. The computer will move as soon as it's black's turn, so if you want to switch to two players, make the switch before you make your (white) move.

As your Reversi skills improve, this can be a useful way of setting up game situations by playing both sides, then switching to one-player mode and seeing how the computer opponent tries to get out of them. Or, you can play both sides, trying a different strategy for each. The computer plays with the positional strategy we described above, so when you're at the point that you can beat it regularly, you're getting to be quite a good player!

White always goes first in our Reversi game, but since there's no luck involved in the game, there is a positional advantage. To let Black play first, press the Pass button on your first turn, instead of making a move.

Invite Friends and Neighbors to Come Play

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Our Reversi game can be the entertainment for a rainy day when the grandkids visit, and can also be a great excuse to invite friends and neighbors over to play. And, with just a little practice, and the knowledge of the strategy, you'll amaze them with your mastery of this classic game.

Jump to our Legacy Reversi (for IE 7 or below, members only)

Dudette

Letter Twist is a fun anagram spelling game for young kids, teenagers and adults where you have to unscramble the letters of two jumbled-up words to make them into proper words. This colorful word learning game is a fantastic way to boost your range of vocabulary in a fresh new way! It starts out easy-peezy, and then gets harder and harder until your brain is well and truly in a spin. If you get past all levels, you're a PRO!

Your goal is to create clarity out of confusion and sense out of nonsense! Words are everything, so find the right ones! The fewer clicks you make, the higher you will score. Don't make too many clicks or you will lose energy and be penalized. You only have 20 seconds to get the two words right. If time runs out, your energy starts to decrease. When all your energy is gone, it's game over and all the wonderful words disappear. Be warned, the words get more difficult at every level. OK, you know the score - it's time to get un-jumbling-updowning! What? Good luck Wordsworth!

How To Play: There are two rows of letters, one above the other. Use you computer mouse to click on the letters in each or either row to move them up or down in order to unscramble the two hidden words. You can see your remaining time, score, number of words found and the game level on the left hand side of the game screen. You can see your energy bar on the right hand side of the game screen.

If this Flash-based game no longer works on IE11 or Chrome browser on your PC / MAC, try playing Firefox browser with Adobe Flash player installed. Works on mobile.