What's Needed to Play:
* 2 Players
* An 8x8 grid game board typically colored all green.
* 64 flat (2-sided) tokens as playing pieces. Each playing piece must be colored white on 1 side and black on the reverse side.
* Note: Improvised playing pieces can be made using coins. It would be necessary to paint one or both sides of each coin. It is best to use water-soluble paint (so you can readily recover the coins) such as tempera paint.
Objective of the Game:
* To end the game with more playing pieces in your color than your opponent
* Note: The game ends when all playing pieces on the board are one color (that player automatically being victorious), or, when both sides no longer have any legal moves |
Rules of Game Play:
* Each player positions himself on opposite sides of the board. Each player makes alternating moves starting with the player controlling the dark pieces.
* A player loses his turn in case there is no legal move available to him/her
Basic Moves:
On "Flipping" or "Converting": The most basic move in Reversi is made essentially to claim a vacant square by "converting" or "flipping" adjacent pieces of the opposite color. Therefore, in order for a move to be legal, the following conditions must be met:
* A playing piece in the opposite color must reside in an adjacent square.
* There must be a vacant square across the adjacent opponent piece. |
The Reversi Board
Diagram Zero:
Placement of the playing pieces
at the start of game play. |
Basic Moves: (continued)
** An example at the start of play: D4 is occupied by a white piece, and it is adjacent to E4 and D5, providing a basis for Black player to make his move from both E4 and D5. Black player may "claim" the empty C4 square by "flipping" the white D4 from black E4. Alternatively, Black player may choose to "claim" D3 by "flipping" the white D4 from black D5.
"Flipping" multiple pieces: As the game progresses, it becomes necessary to flip more than 1 opponent piece in any round. For this to be possible, the following conditions apply:
* Playing pieces in the opposite color must occupy squares in a straight line starting with an adjacent square to the player's own piece.
* There must be a vacant square at the far end of the straight line formed by the opponent's pieces.
** As an example, refer to Diagram #1: it is the black player's turn to move. Notice that squares D2, D3, and D4 form a straight line occupied by white pieces. Since D1 is vacant, this makes D2, D3 and D4 vulnerable to flipping by the adjacent black D5. The result is Diagram #2-A, where the black player has just claimed D1 and flipped D2, D3 and D4 in so doing.
** As an alternative example, from Diagram #1: It is the black player's turn to move, and squares D4 and E5 are vulnerable to flipping because (a) they form a straight line, (b) are adjacent to the black C3, and (c) the square F6 is vacant. If black player chooses to claim F6 and flip D4 and E5, then the game board will look like Diagram #2-B. |
Diagram #1:
To illustrate the flipping of multiple pieces.
It is the black player's turn to move.
Diagram #2-A:
Black player has just claimed D1 by flipping D2, D3 and D4.
It is now the white player's turn to move.
|
Diagram #2-B:
Black player has just claimed F6 by flipping D4 and E5.
It is now the white player's turn to move.
Tips on Strategic Play:
Territory Wars: As the match progresses, the game board starts to look like a land map with territories drawn in black and white on a field of green. It is important to note that there is no limit to the number of times a playing piece can be flipped. In fact, all squares on the game board are inherently flippable and re-flippable, except for the 4 corner squares.
Valuable Real Estate: For the reason that corner squares cannot be flipped, and edge squares may only be flipped by other edge squares, these therefore represent valuable real estate in Reversi matches. Smart players play towards claiming these squares, and best results are achieved when edge or corner squares are claimed towards the end of a game, thereby allowing the player to flip a great majority of his/her opponent's pieces in the process. |
