Reversi

Game rules

Reversi is played in a grid of 8 rows and 8 columns, numbered from 1 to 8 for rows and from A to H for columns, like chess. The goal of the game is to have as many tokens of your color as possible at the end of the game.

Course of the game

At the beginning of the game, 4 tokens are placed in the central squares (D4, D5, E4 and E5).

Each player at their turn puts a token of their color on an unoccupied square. You can only play in the squares horizontally, vertically or diagonally adjacent to the squares already occupied.

The principle of the game, as suggested by the name of the game, is to return or reverse your opponents' tokens so that they become yours. This is possible by surrounding a series of enemies' tokens by two of your own.

The game ends when the entire grid is full. The winner is then the player having the greatest number of tokens of their color on the board. The game is draw if the number of tokens owned by the players is equal.

Returning or reversing tokens

When a series of enemy's tokens are surrounded by two of your tokens, meaning when, by placing one of your tokens on the board, you are forming a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line, such that the token you have just placed is at one end, one of your tokens is at the other end, and an uninterrupted series of tokens owned by your opponents are in-between, then the in-between tokens are returned and become yours. Using the analogy with chess, we could say that tokens are captured in this way.

Returning lines are neither permanent nor retroactive. A return operation must always be triggered by placing one of your tokens at one end of a surrounding line. So, if someone places a token between two of yours, nothing happens, the token just placed remains under its original owner.

Variants

Allow skipping a turn

This rule explicitly allows to skip your turn voluntarily (by pressing the P key) even if you were able to play. With standard rules, nobody ever skips their turn.

Mandatory capture

This rule says that one is always obliged to capture at their turn. In other words, you must always play on a place where returning operations can be triggered; playing in a location where nothing can happen is forbidden. You skip your turn if such a move is impossible.

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