Strategy Guide For Reversi

While there are many online guides to Reversi or Othello (see links below) there does not seem
to have been
much written about the reverse game. This guide aims to correct this omission and is also a useful opportunity
for me to try to distil my limited understanding of the ordinary game. I used to play both forms of the game
online at the MSN Gaming Zone before it closed and, in particular, enjoyed taking part in the ladder
tournaments on the Case's MyLeague ZoneReversi Ladder, & Reversed Ladder and the somewhat irregular
Zone Reversed Reversi Tournaments.
In the classic game of Reversi you try to end up with the most discs of your colour at the end of the game. In
Reversed Reversi the rules are the same but the goal is to end up with the fewest discs. Much of the strategic
thinking behind the classic game can also be applied to the reverse game, though sometimes in reverse!
Topics
The Rules
The Goal
Notation
Maximum Discs Strategy
Stable Discs
Positional Strategy
Mobility
Evaporation Strategy
Frontiers
Stoner Traps
Parity
Openings
Animated Openings, Tricks & Traps Etc.
More Topics
Links
Home

The Rules

Reversi or Othello takes place between two players, black and white,
on an 8x8 board of 64 squares. There are 64 discs coloured black on
one side and white on the other.
Strategy Guide for Reversi & Reversed Reversi http://www.samsoft.org.uk/reversi/strategy.htm
1 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46
Diagram 1: Starting position
Black, to move, has a choice
of four symmetrically equivalent
squares.
The board is set up initially with two black discs (i.e. a disc with black
side uppermost) placed on squares e4 and d5 and two white discs on
d4 and e5.
Black always plays first with players then taking alternate turns.
At each turn a player must place a disc with their colour face up on one
of the empty squares of the board, adjacent to an opponent's disc such
that one or more straight lines (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) are
formed from the newly placed disc, through one or more of the
opponent's discs and up to other discs of their own colour already on
the board. All the intervening discs of the opponent's colour are flipped
to the colour of the newly laid disc.
Discs may be flipped from one colour to the other but once played are
not moved from one square to another or removed from the board.
Players may not pass unless there is no valid move available to them in
which case they must pass.
Play continues until neither player is able to move, usually when all 64
squares have been played.

The Goal

Reversi

Reversed Reversi
Diagram 2

The winner is the player with
most pieces turned to their
colour at the close of play. By
convention any empty squares at
the end are added to the
winners score, thus diagram 2
shows a 35-29 win for black.
If both players have the same
number of discs at the end then
the game is tied.

Reversed Reversi (a.k.a. Anti-Reversi)
is played with the same rules but the
goal is changed. The winner of the
game is the the player with least
number of discs at the end. These may
also be referred to as "suicide rules"
with the winner being the player who
successfully suicides in what would
otherwise be a regular game of
reversi. Diagram 2 illustrates a
Reversed Reversi victory for white who
has 29 discs compared to black's
score of 35. Playing badly at the
regular game is not enough - you'll
have to work hard to force your
opponent to take more discs than you
if you are to win the game.

Notation
North
2 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46
Diagram 3: Significant squares

The squares on the reversi board
are referred to using coordinate
notation in order to record
games and allow the discussion
of strategy. Certain significant
squares are given special
names. The corners are a1, h1,
a8 & h8. The X-squares are
those squares diagonally
adjacent to a corner and the
C-squares are the other
squares adjacent to a corner.
Some analysts of the game also
refer to A-squares & B-squares
as indicated left. The central 4x4
block of squares is

W
e
s
t
E
a
s
t
South

referred to as the sweet
sixteen, while the central 2x2

Diagram 4

block of squares initially
occupied at the start of the game
is called the centre. The
four edges of the board maybe
referred to as the north, east,
south & west edges
respectively and it is possible,
for example, to talk of the
north-west corner of the board
meaning the a1 corner and
surrounding squares.

Games can be
recorded either
by listing the
move numbers
and coordinates
for each player

Black
1. c4
3. d3
5. d6
7. f5
White
2. c3
4. c5
6. f4
8. e6
or by recording the move numbers in a
grid. Diagram 4 shows a typical move
sequence for the Tanida opening
overlaid on top of the position arrived
at after the first 8 moves.

Maximum Disks Strategy
or Greedy Algorithm
Reversi

Reversed Reversi
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Diagram 5: Too much, too soon
(Run mouse over board to see result)

Beginners usually start by
interpreting the requirement to
end up with the most discs as a
strategy for the whole game.
This position illustrates that
having the most pieces at one
point in time does not necessarily
guarantee a final victory. White
leads 59-1 but has no valid
moves remaining. Black may
now play into a1 or h8 followed
by the remaining corners in any
order. White has to pass each
time and thus black ends up
winning the game 40-24!
It can also be tempting to try to
wipe out your opponent earlier in
the game by taking as many of
their pieces as possible however
unless your opponent is
carelessly working the
evaporation strategy and not
paying attention then it is unlikely
that you will succeed. By the
time it becomes apparent that
you have failed you are likely to
have few good moves left and
your opponent will be well placed
to drive you to defeat.

In contrast this is an ideal endgame
position for white in Reversed Reversi
as, like it or not, black is now forced to
take all four corners and ends up
taking 40 discs to white's 24. In
practice however, trying to set up this
sort of ideal endgame is dangerous.
Taking so many pieces can exhaust
your mobility giving control of the game
to your opponent. Consider diagram 5
where just one of the X or C squares is
black. White will then have to take one
of the four corners and, even with
black taking the remaining three, the
final score will be 24-40 or 21-43 in
black's favour!
In reversed reversi you don't
have to worry about being wiped
out as this too counts as a
victory, but this is another
argument against wildly grabbing
useful looking territory. In one of
my early reversed games I was so
busy preparing the ground for the
big finish that I missed the fact
that my opponent was evaporating
and I was suddenly forced to take the
last of his pieces before half of the
discs had even been laid. Needless to
say I now try harder to ensure my
opponent's survival.

Stable Discs

Reversi

Reversed Reversi
4 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46
Diagram 6
(Mouse over to highlight stable discs)

It should be readily apparent that
once a disc has been placed on
a corner square it cannot be
flipped, The disc is said to be
determined or stable.
Neighbouring discs of the same
colour are also stable if there is
no way for the opponent to
outflank them through the rest of
the game. In diagram 6 black
has 23 stable discs while white
has just one (d6) that cannot
possibly be flipped by
subsequent moves. Black needs
to take and secure just 10 discs
from the 40 available during the
remaining play to secure a win.

In the reverse game you want to try to
avoid creating stable regions of your
own colour while trying to "assist" the
creation of the same for your
opponent. Creating blocks of your
colour with single "holes" into which
your opponent must play at some point
may prove useful although you have to
be wary of any negative side effects
that might arise for you when your
opponent finally plays there.

Positional Strategy

Reversi

Reversed Reversi
Diagram 7

Having seen how useful the
corners are and taking into
account that each piece you lay
may act as a 'stepping stone' for
your opponent it is easy to try to
assign a fixed worth or fitness to
each square. Corners are very
good, X & C-squares bad
(because they may give your
opponent access to corners), A
& B-squares OK etc. Since the
board has a number of
symmetries there are only 10
distinct types of squares.
Diagram 7 shows part of the
static evaluation table used in the
reversi program that was
included with past versions of
Microsoft Windows. Fortunately
the game is deeper than this
(otherwise it wouldn't be any fun)
and a few games with players of

Looking at diagram 5 it should be
apparent that if you can force your
opponent to take all four corners and
edges they are likely to end up with the
most discs. Simply inverting the
positional values of each square gives
a first approximation to a fixed
evaluation of the reverse game. Further
study shows that while occupying an
X-square in the classic game is likely to
give away a corner and is therefore
usually a bad move, control of both the
C-squares and the X-square is
required if you are to oblige your
opponent to take up the corner. Once
a disc has been placed on a C-square
it can only be flipped by a move to the
corner square. The X-square can be
flipped more readily and may be used
by your opponent as a stepping stone
to a C-square. Likewise taking an early
A-square can provide access to
5 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46
any strength will reveal that a
strategy of trying to play in
"good" squares and avoiding
"bad" ones will soon yield control
of the game to your opponent.
Nevertheless an idea of static
worth may help when it comes to
choosing between two moves
that would otherwise appear of
equal value using other criteria.
When planning a move you need
to consider your opponents'
possible response, then your
response to that and so on. At
the end of the game it might be
possible to calculate all the
variations but elsewhere in the
game you will need to have
some mechanism to avoid having
to consider all possible branches
more deeply than is practical -
e.g. a feeling for the relative
worth of particular squares.
C-squares for your opponent so should
probably be avoided. At least one
A-square will be required to prevent
any possibility of your opponent flipping
the X-square later in the game
however. Compare the south-east &
south-west corners of the diagram 8
below. Black will almost certainly have
to play to h8 before the game is out,
gaining an unwanted corner. However
playing b6 will flip the disc on b7 and if
white cannot flip b7 again then,
depending on the relative mobility
during the endgame, there is a
possibility that white may have to take
the south-west corner before the
conclusion of the game.
Diagram 8
While acknowledging the limitations of
pure positional strategy I would
suggest the above static table for
consideration as a quick guide to the
likely relative value of various squares
in Reversed Reversi. In short,
C-squares are nearly always useful,
whereas those adjacent to them should
probably be avoided because they
provide access to the C-square.
6 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46

Mobility

Reversi

Reversed Reversi
Diagram 9: White to play

At each stage of the game you
will have to chose between the
limited number of moves
available to you. In diagram 9
white has just 3 available moves
or "liberties", two of which hand
a corner to black straight away.
Assuming white plays to e8 black
will have 13 moves available of
which 11 will lead to a win with
best possible play by both sides
thereafter. In this position white
has poor mobility having few
moves to choose from, all pretty
bad at that, while black has good
mobility having lots of choice. As
long as there is at least one
non-disastrous move for each
player the game will remain in
balance but if you can start to
restrict the mobility of your
opponent while maintaining your
own then you may be able to
force them into having to make
bad moves.

The concept of mobility is also key to
the reverse game. If you can achieve a
position where you can restrict the
availability of moves to your opponent
then you are well on the way to victory.

Evaporation Strategy
or "Less Is More"
Reversi

Reversed Reversi
7 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46
Diagram 10: Black to play

The easiest way to increase your
relative mobility compared to that
of your opponent is to have
fewer pieces on the board - so
while you want most pieces at
the end of the game it pays to
try to keep down your gains in
the early stages... of course your
opponent knows this as well so
they will probably be trying to do
the same. You also have to take
care not to evaporate altogether.
In this position black (to move)
can wipe out white by playing at
c5 bringing the game to an early
conclusion!

The evaporation strategy is also useful
in the reverse game as the aim is to try
to take control by reducing your
opponents available moves or liberties.
The lower your disc count, the fewer
liberties they are likely to have and the
more likely they are to be forced to
make poor moves. In contrast to the
regular game you don't even have to
worry about being wiped out yourself
(this too counts as a victory) but you
do need to be wary of your opponent
evaporating completely.

Frontiers

Reversi

Reversed Reversi

Each move is played to an empty
square adjacent to an opponent's
disc and flips at least one of their
discs. The discs which have
empty neighbouring squares
form the frontier while those that
do not are called interior discs.
The more frontier discs you
have, the more choices your
opponent has and, likewise, a
smaller set of frontier discs
restricts the number of available
moves. It should be clear that
minimising one's frontier is key to
winning the battle for mobility. In
diagram 11 black should play a6
flipping 3 discs (rather than f7
which flips 1) as this keeps the
frontier to a minimum. A move
like this which does not flip any
frontier disks is called a quiet
move and often represents good
play. This suggests a refinement

Maintaining a small set of frontier discs
will prove just as useful as it does in
the regular game as it serves to
increase your relative mobility.
8 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46
of the evaporation strategy in
which you try to evaporate your
frontier discs while not being so
concerned with the total numbers
of discs flipped at each turn.

Stoner Traps or
"Heads I Win, Tales You Lose!"
Reversi

Reversed Reversi
Diagram 12: White to play
Diagram 13: Black to play with
white threatening d8.
N.b. The black disc at b5 ensures
that black cannot safely respond
to d8 with b8. The trap would also
fail if white did not fully control the

A Stoner trap (named after J ohn
Stoner) is a particular type of
forced corner exchange that
takes advantage of a weak edge
position, that is an edge including
a C-square. The attacker first
gains control of a diagonal
(meaning they have all the discs
in that diagonal) by playing to an
X-square, then attacks the
opponent's weak edge by
threatening to take a corner. The
opponent cannot respond by
taking back the edge since this
would flip back the X-square
played in the previous move and
provide access to the other
corner. Whatever response the
defendant makes the attacker
gains at least one corner square
and a number of stable discs.
In diagram 12 white plays b7
threatening d8 on a subsequent
move. Looking at diagram 13,
black cannot deny access to d8
by playing it themselves as this
gives white access to h8.
Wherever else black chooses to
play white will be able to play d8
on the next move with the threat
of h8 to follow. If black then
plays b8 to recover the south

The nearest analogy I've come up with
is this sort of position. White plays d8
to gain access to at least one
C-square with the hope that, having
access, black can be obliged to
capture the edge later in the game. A
black reply to e8 also flips f7giving
white access to g7 and the opportunity
to take all of the southern edge.

Diagram 14

9 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46
diagonal at this point as black
would be able to play a8 and then
reply to d8 with b8 winning the
southern edge. White must also
have access to the attack square
d8.
edge, b7 will be flipped and
provide access to a8 for white
who may then take all of the
southern edge. Once the trap
has been set the best that black
can hope for is to get access to
a8 in exchange for losing the h8
corner.

Parity

Reversi

Reversed Reversi

The last player to move
(normally white) has an
advantage as any discs they flip
in that turn can't be flipped back.
This is global parity. Towards the
end of the game the remaining
empty squares will form distinct
regions with either odd or even
numbers of squares. Playing last
into each such region will usually
yield the best results. In general
avoid playing first into regions
with even local parity (even
numbers of empty squares) and
play into regions of odd parity.
Diagram 15 has three areas of
1, 2 & 3 squares respectively.
White cannot play to g8. Black's
best move is to play g2 in an
area of odd parity leaving two
areas of even parity into which
white must play. By replying into
the same region as white each
time and saving g8 for the final
move black wins 36-28. Should
black make the wrong initial
move white can win 39-25.

Black has the advantage of global
parity in the reverse game provided
neither player has to pass or there are
an even number of passes. White will
play last and is likely to lose out by
virtue of move order in an otherwise
even endgame. If you can force your
opponent to be the last to play into
each region in the final stages of the
game then this too should tip the
balance in your favour. It is therefore
useful to create odd regions rather
than even ones and to play into even
regions in preference to playing into
odd ones. In diagram 15 black should
play to a2 forcing white to either take
the west edge or initiate play to the
north-east - either way white will lose.
Diagram 5 shows a position with 4
singleton regions into which only black
may play with inevitable results. Most
of my successful Reversed Reversi
games finish with my opponent having
to move into just such regions for the
last two or three moves while I pass
each time having no available moves.

Openings
It is quite easy to lose control of the game in the first few moves. Play the wrong move and your opponent will
10 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46
be able to restrict your choice of moves to those that work in their favour. While the concepts discussed above
may help guide your opening moves it is worth looking at some standard openings which appear to preserve
the balance of control, at least for a while. The openings page has an illustrated step-by-step guide to some of
the more promising opening variations and a list of common named openings.

Animated Openings, Tricks & Traps Etc.
In addition to the original openings page the main section of this site now comprises of a
J avaScript applet that demonstrates all the standard opening sequences, illustrates some of the
potential traps that you can try to set or avoid and includes a selection of short wipe-out games
and some complete regular and reversed games.

Topics to come... (eventually)
Tempo
Move order
Wedges
Poison
Swindles
Conclusion

Links

Play Online:
MSN Zone Reversi - Free online play with a .Net account
MyLeague Zone Reversi Ladder - For ladder play with regular tournaments
MyLeague Reversed Ladder - For ladder play with regular tournaments, in reversed style...
MSN Zone Reversed Reversi Tournaments - Tournament calendar & results
Kurnik - Free online play
VOG: Vinco Online Games - You can play online & unrated as a guest for short periods however rated
play requires fee-paying membership

Reversi Downloads:
Beppi Menozzi's Happy End - Practise your endgame skills
WZebra - The finest freeware Othello/Reversi program available

Strategy Guides & Other Links:
British Othello Federation - The home of British Othello
Elements of Strategy - A brief guide accompanying a J ava-based Othello program called Ajax
French Othello Federation Booklet - An online English translation at the home of WZebra
11 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46
J oel Feinstein's Othello Guide - Some interesting topics are covered here, in particular The Art of
Sacrificing Four Corners, now graphically illustrated on this site here
Othello: A Minute to Learn, A Lifetime to Master - A 170-page PDF (Acrobat) book from Othello
Champion Brian Rose
Othello Club Deutschland Home page of the German Othello Club
Othello Openings - A list of opening variations and their usage frequency
Othello Patterns & Tricks A few interesting sequences (tesuji) are shown here, most of which are
now also available on this site here
Othello University - Strategy guide with a trainer applet here that contains a larger list of named
openings
The Othello Guide - Sadly missing at present, this site had a great forum together with some useful
insights on strategy. A number the tricks & traps presented on this site were originally found there.
Othello World - Another Othello forum
Yahoo! Games - The online game is S L O W (and their board is back-to-front) but the strategy guide is
worth taking a quick look at for pointers if you are new to the game

Acknowledgments
While my notes on Reversed Reversi are all original, parts of this strategy guide have been copied adapted
from existing guides found on some of the sites referenced above. As Tom Lehrer put it in his song
Lobachevsky:-
Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize -
Only be sure always to call it please 'research'
Feedback:
TuringTest2@{remove}samsoft.org.uk
Version 1.21 - 08/12/2006
12 of 12 13/09/2010 18:46

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