About Free Printable Reversi (Othello) Rules
Free printable Reversi (Othello) rules — board setup, turn flow, flank-and-flip captures, must-flip-at-least-one rule, passing, and common variants.
How to use
- Choose your print style. Full color gives a green Othello-style board that looks great as a reference poster. Ink-saver (black & white) switches to a clean white/grey board for an economical classroom handout — ideal when printing a class set.
- Choose whether to show board diagrams. Diagrams on (the default) include the standard Othello starting position, Dark's four legal opening moves, single-direction and multi-direction flipping examples, and an illegal-move (gap-in-the-line) diagram. Switch to text only for the most compact, fewest-pages version.
- Read the preview to confirm it is what you want — the rules flow from the goal and setup, through how a turn works (placement, outflanking, flipping), the eight special rules, how the game ends, and three common variants (Anti-Reversi, Classic Reversi, Freestyle opening), finishing with a quick-reference table.
- Click Print Rules to send it to your printer or save it as a PDF. The full illustrated guide prints cleanly across a few standard letter or A4 pages; choose Text only for a compact one-page summary.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Reversi and Othello?
Reversi is the 19th-century original game; Othello is the 1971 fixed-position refinement trademarked by Tsukuda Original — light discs on d4 and e5, dark discs on e4 and d5, with same-color discs on opposite diagonals. The placement, flanking, and flipping rules are identical. Today the words are used almost interchangeably, but a 'classic Reversi' game can also start from an empty board with the first four moves played into the centre four squares before normal flanking begins.
What is a legal move in Reversi?
A legal move places your disc on an empty square and outflanks at least one opponent disc. Outflanking means trapping a contiguous straight line of opponent discs — horizontally, vertically, or diagonally — between your new disc and another disc of your color, with no empty squares in the line. If your placement does not flip at least one disc, it is not a legal move and you must choose a different square.
Do I have to flip discs in Reversi, or can I choose to leave some?
You must flip every disc that is legally bracketed by your placement. You may not choose to leave some unflipped. Flips can happen in up to 8 directions at once from a single placement. However, the discs you just flipped do not then check their own lines for new flanks — only the disc you actually placed causes captures.
What happens if I can't make a legal move?
If you have no legal move that flips at least one disc, you must pass — you do not skip optionally. Your opponent plays again, and you re-enter play as soon as a legal move opens for you. The game ends only when neither player has a legal move (usually when the board is full, but it can also end earlier if no remaining square would flip a disc for either side).
How do you score and win Reversi?
When neither player can move, count the discs showing each color. The player with more discs of their color wins. A 32-32 result is a tie. In tournament play each player gets half a win for a tie, and any empty squares left at game end are awarded to the winner for scoring purposes.
What other printable game rules do you have?
Reversi joins our growing collection of free printable game-rule sheets — including chess and checkers — covering classic public-domain board and card games. See the
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