The History of Reversi: From Victorian England to Global Phenomenon

The game known today as Reversi has a history as contentious and dramatic as the Shakespearean tragedy that gave it its modern name. From its murky origins in Victorian England to its revival in postwar Japan and its eventual solution by artificial intelligence, the story of this simple yet profound board game spans nearly a century and a half.

Part I: The Victorian Origins (1880s)

The story begins in England during the 1880s, but the exact circumstances of the game's invention remain shrouded in dispute. Two Englishmen, Lewis Waterman and John W. Mollett, both claimed to have invented the game in 1883, each denouncing the other as a fraud.

The confusion may run even deeper. Mollett had previously created a game called Annexation (or Annex) around 1870, played on a cross-shaped board. Waterman's version, called Reversi, was played on the familiar 8×8 square board. It remains unclear whose version came first, and some sources suggest Waterman may have borrowed the basic idea from Mollett and simply gave it its current form.

What is certain is that the game gained considerable popularity in England at the end of the 19th century. The first reliable mention of the game appears in the 21 August 1886 edition of The Saturday Review. By 1895, The New York Times had taken notice, describing Reversi as "something like Go Bang" and noting it was "played with 64 pieces".

In 1893, the German games publisher Ravensburger began producing Reversi as one of its first titles. The game continued to spread, reaching Japan by 1907, where it was marketed as "Genpei Go" to appeal to a Japanese audience.

Part II: The Japanese Revival and Standard Rules (1971)

Despite its early success, Reversi faded from prominence in the early 20th century. It remained a niche game until 1971, when a Japanese innovator named Goro Hasegawa (legal name: Satoshi Hasegawa) popularized standardized rules.

Hasegawa made several key modifications to formalize modern Reversi rules:

Hasegawa's most inspired decision was formalizing standard play across schools and clubs. Drawing on strategic board game conventions, the standard 8x8 grid with dark and light pieces created an irresistible tactical challenge.

Hasegawa also authored influential strategy books in 1975, which helped popularize Reversi and establish its strategic foundations. The game was reintroduced to the market in 1973. Its success was immediate and immense: by 2016, over 24.75 million sets had been shipped in Japan alone.

Part III: Global Expansion and Competitive Play (1970s–Present)

The Rise of Tournament Play

The first organized modern Reversi tournament was held in Japan in 1973. Just four years later, in 1977, the first World Reversi Championship was held in Tokyo, with five players representing five countries. The inaugural world champion was Hiroshi Inoue of Japan.

From 1977 to 1986, each country could send only one player—its national champion. In 1987, the rules expanded to allow three players per federation, and the number of competitors grew to 21. The same year marked the introduction of the Team World Championship.

The tournament has continued to grow. By 2004, each federation could send an additional female player, and starting in 2016, an additional youth player as well. Participation has since approached 90–100 players. Today, Reversi is played competitively in approximately 70 countries worldwide.

International Reversi Associations

In 2005, global Reversi associations were formally established to promote the game worldwide and oversee international competitions along with regional and confederation events.

Global Success

Reversi's commercial success has been extraordinary. The game reached millions of households, and by 2004, tens of millions of sets had been sold worldwide. The game's famous motto—"a minute to learn, a lifetime to master"—captured its enduring appeal.

Part IV: The Digital Era and Artificial Intelligence (1980s–2023)

Early Computer Reversi

Reversi proved to be an ideal testbed for artificial intelligence research. The game's simple rules but complex strategy made it a natural challenge for early computer scientists. In 1985, Reversi was included as a playable game in Windows 1.0, introducing the game to a generation of personal computer users.

In 1980, the early Reversi program The Moor (written by Mike Reeve and David Levy) won one game in a six-game match against world champion Hiroshi Inoue—a significant milestone for computer game AI.

The Solving of Reversi

The ultimate achievement in computer Reversi came in 2023, when Japanese researcher Hiroki Takizawa announced that he had solved Reversi on an 8x8 board. Using massive computing power and sophisticated alpha-beta pruning techniques, Takizawa computationally proved that perfect play by both players leads to a draw.

This is known as a "weak solution"—meaning that from the initial position, the game-theoretic outcome is a draw, and any deviation from perfect play leads to either a draw or a loss for the deviating player. The achievement represented one of the grand challenges of AI, as Reversi had been a benchmark problem for decades.

The result surprised many in the community. Given that Reversi is not symmetric—it matters significantly who plays first—the fact that perfect play results in a perfectly even outcome seemed almost coincidental.

Timeline Summary

Conclusion

From the fog of Victorian London to the bright lights of Tokyo and the cold logic of supercomputers, Reversi has traveled an extraordinary path. What began as a disputed invention between two Englishmen became a global competitive sport, and finally a solved mathematical problem.

Yet for all that has been discovered about the game—its optimal play, its perfect strategies, its mathematical foundations—the game remains, for human players, as compelling as ever. The solution may be known, but the journey of discovery, the thrill of a well-played game, and the "lifetime of mastery" that the game promises remain very much alive.