Othello is a two-player abstract strategy game played on an 8x8 board with 64 two-sided discs (black and white). Black moves first. Each move places a disc such that it flanks one or more contiguous opponent discs in a straight line; all flanked discs flip to your color. The game ends when neither player can move, and the player with the most discs wins. Easy to learn in minutes; takes a lifetime to master.

How to Play Othello

Components

• 8x8 board (traditional green felt with checkered grid).

• 64 reversible discs (black on one side, white on the other).

Setup

1. Place the board between the two players.

2. Set up the four center discs in a fixed pattern in the central 2x2 squares (d4, e4, d5, e5):

   • d5 and e4: white face up
   • e5 and d4: black face up
   • This produces a checkerboard with same-colors on a diagonal.

3. Decide who plays black; black moves first.

Turn Structure

On your turn you must place a disc of your color on an empty square such that the placement creates at least one flanking line of contiguous opponent discs in a straight line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) that your new disc closes off (with another disc of your color already at the far end).

• Every flanked opponent disc - in every direction the placement creates a flank - flips to your color.

• A move is only legal if it flips at least one disc.

• You may not place on an occupied square.

Pass Rule

If you have no legal move, you must pass, and your opponent moves again. You may not pass voluntarily if a legal move exists.

End of Game

The game ends when neither player has a legal move - usually when the board is full (after 60 moves on top of the 4 starting discs), but sometimes earlier if both sides are blocked.

Winner

The player with more discs of their color on the board wins.

• A 32-32 final count is a draw and is recorded as such.

• A wipeout (one player flips every disc to their color) ends the game immediately.

• We record the raw on-board disc count for each color. (Note: some tournament scoring conventions credit empty squares to the winner, but the World Othello Federation official rules page only directs that discs are counted and the majority color wins.)

Recording

After the game, count discs of each color and enter both scores. Optional fields: which color each player played, total move count, and game duration if you used the timer.

Each player's score is the count of their color discs on the board at game end. Range 0-64. Higher wins. 32-32 is a draw.

The score is a single, non-additive quantity: each player's disc_count IS their whole score and does not decompose into additive sub-components, so there are no component or bonus metrics — disc_count is the authoritative outcome. The color metric is a diagnostic side metric (who moved first) and is not part of the score.