The RULES
Reversi (often known as Othello) is a strategy game played on an 8x8 grid with 64 two-sided discs (usually black on one side and white on the other). The goal is to finish the game with the majority of discs showing your color.
Board Setup & First Move
The game starts on an empty 8x8 board. Each player takes 32 discs of their chosen color. Place two black and two white discs in the four center squares, with opposite colors touching diagonally. The player using the black discs always goes first.
Taking a Turn
- Make a trap: On your turn, place a new disc on the board so that it traps (or outflanks) at least one of your opponent’s discs between the newly placed disc and another disc of your color.
- Flip the pieces: All of the opponent's discs in a continuous straight line between your two discs are flipped to your color. The line can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, and you can capture in multiple directions at the same time.
- Mandatory moves: If you have a valid move that allows you to trap and flip discs, you must make it.
- Passing: If you have no valid moves to trap your opponent's discs, you must pass your turn.
End of the Game & Winning
- End of play: The game ends when neither player can make a legal move (e.g., the board is completely full) or one player has been completely wiped out.
- Count the discs: The player with the highest number of discs of their color on the board wins. If both players have the same number of discs, the game is a tie.
The History of Othello / Reversi: From Victorian England to Global Phenomenon
The game known today as Othello—or Reversi, depending on who you ask—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 the Birth of Othello (1971)
Despite its early success, Reversi faded from prominence in the early 20th century. It remained a niche game until 1971, when a Japanese salesman named Goro Hasegawa (legal name: Satoshi Hasegawa) revived it.
Hasegawa, then 38 years old, made several key modifications to the original Reversi rules:
| Feature | Original Reversi | Modern Othello |
|---|---|---|
| Starting position | No fixed setup; first four pieces placed anywhere adjacent to each other | Fixed "cross" pattern in the center |
| Passing | Game ended when one player could not move | Players skip turns; game ends only when neither can move |
| Board colors | No standardized colors | Green board with black and white discs |
Hasegawa's most inspired decision, however, was the name. Drawing on his father's background as an English literature professor, he renamed the game Othello—after Shakespeare's tragedy about a dark-skinned Moor and his light-skinned wife Desdemona. The analogy between the play's central conflict and the game's battle between dark and light pieces was irresistible.
Hasegawa also authored the influential book "How to Win at Othello" in 1975, which helped popularize the game and establish its strategic foundations. The game was first introduced to the Japanese market in 1973 by Tsukuda Original Co.. Its success was immediate and immense: by the time of Hasegawa's death in 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 Othello tournament was the Japan Othello Championship in 1973. Just four years later, in 1977, the first World Othello Championship (WOC) 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. The 2016 WOC in Mito featured 84 players, and participation has since approached 90–100 players. Today, Othello is played in approximately 70 countries worldwide.
The World Othello Federation
In 2005, the World Othello Federation (WOF) was formally established to promote the game globally and oversee international competitions. The WOF now coordinates the annual World Championship along with regional and confederation events.
Marketing Success
Othello's commercial success has been extraordinary. The game was launched in the UK in 1979, and by 2004, approximately 30 million sets had been sold worldwide. The game's simple slogan—"a minute to learn, a lifetime to master"—captured its enduring appeal.
Part IV: The Digital Era and Artificial Intelligence (1980s–2023)
Early Computer Othello
Othello 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 Othello 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 Othello
The ultimate achievement in computer Othello came in 2023, when Japanese researcher Hiroki Takizawa announced that he had solved Othello. 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 Othello had been a benchmark problem for decades.
The result surprised many in the community. Given that Othello 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
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| c. 1870 | Mollett creates "Annexation" on a cross-shaped board |
| 1883 | Waterman and Mollett both claim invention of Reversi |
| 1886 | First reliable mention in The Saturday Review |
| 1893 | Ravensburger begins producing Reversi |
| 1895 | The New York Times mentions Reversi |
| 1907 | Reversi reaches Japan as "Genpei Go" |
| 1971 | Goro Hasegawa patents Othello in Japan |
| 1973 | First Japan Othello Championship |
| 1975 | Hasegawa publishes "How to Win at Othello" |
| 1977 | First World Othello Championship in Tokyo |
| 1979 | Othello launched in the UK |
| 1985 | Reversi included in Windows 1.0 |
| 2005 | World Othello Federation established |
| 2023 | Othello is computationally solved (perfect play = draw) |
Conclusion
From the fog of Victorian London to the bright lights of Tokyo and the cold logic of supercomputers, Othello/Reversi has traveled an extraordinary path. What began as a disputed invention between two Englishmen became a Japanese cultural phenomenon, then 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. As mentioned above, for information about Othello Game, please visit The World Othello Federation (WOF) at https://www.worldothello.org. WOF is a federation of countries that seeks to promote the game of Othello. The website is for rankings, news and everything related to the game of Othello.