How to Play Othello
Othello rules in 6 points
- Board: 8×8. Start: white on d4, e5, black on d5, e4. Black moves first.
- A move must outflank at least one straight line (row, column or diagonal) of opponent discs; those discs flip.
- Every outflanked line flips at once. Flipped discs never cause further flips.
- With no legal move you must pass; you may not pass otherwise.
- The game ends when neither player can move, full board or not.
- Most discs wins. In official scoring, empty squares go to the winner.
Othello is a two-player strategy game on an 8×8 board. Players take turns placing discs that are black on one side and white on the other. Each move traps a line of the opponent’s discs and flips them to your colour. When neither player can move, whoever has more discs wins. You can learn the rules in a minute; getting good at the strategy takes much longer.
What you need
- An 8×8 board of 64 squares. Columns are labelled a–h from left to right and rows 1–8 from top to bottom, so
a1is the top-left corner. - 64 identical discs, dark on one side and light on the other. One player is Black, the other White.
1. Setup
Four discs start in the centre in a diagonal pattern: white on d4 and e5, black on d5 and e4. Black always moves first.
2. Making a move
On your turn, place one disc of your colour on an empty square so that it outflanks the opponent: there must be a straight, unbroken line of one or more opponent discs between the new disc and another disc of yours. Lines can run horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
All the opponent discs in that line flip to your colour. If a square doesn’t outflank anything, you can’t play there. On this site, glowing dots show every legal square, and with a mouse you can hover over a square to preview what it flips.
3. Flipping in several directions
A move flips every line it outflanks at once. You can’t choose to flip some lines and not others.
4. Passing
If you have no legal move, you must pass and your opponent plays again. You may not pass while you still have a legal move. Passes are rare in the opening but common near the end, especially when one player owns most of an edge.
5. End of the game and scoring
The game ends when neither player can move. That is usually when all 64 squares are full, but a game can end early if one colour is wiped out or the remaining empty squares are unreachable for both players.
Count the discs. The player with more discs wins; equal counts are a draw. In tournaments run under World Othello Federation rules, empty squares are awarded to the winner, so a 33–29 finish with 2 empty squares is recorded as 35–29. This site scores games the same way.
Rules at a glance
- Black moves first.
- Every move must flip at least one disc.
- All outflanked lines flip; no chain reactions.
- No legal move = pass. Otherwise you must move.
- Neither side can move = game over.
- Most discs wins; empty squares go to the winner.
Othello notation
Games are written as a list of squares, e.g. f5 d6 c3 d3 c4. Passes are usually left out, because they are forced. That list is all you need to replay a game, which is how the replay links on this site work: after a game, press Copy replay link and anyone who opens it gets the full game with analysis.
Common rule questions
Can one move flip discs in more than one direction?
Yes. A single move flips every line of opponent discs it brackets: horizontal, vertical and diagonal, all at once. You cannot choose to flip only some of them.
Do flipped discs cause more flips (chain reactions)?
No. Only lines that run through the disc you just placed are flipped. Discs that turn over as a result do not trigger further flips, even if they now bracket other opponent discs.
Can I pass if I don’t like my moves?
No. Passing is allowed only when you have no legal move. If at least one move flips a disc, you must play one.
Does the game end when the board is full?
The game ends when neither player can move. Usually that means the board is full, but it can also happen earlier, for example when one colour has been wiped out.
What if both players have the same number of discs?
The game is a draw. With 64 squares, a 32–32 result is a draw.
Next steps
Once you know the rules, the fastest way to improve is to learn why corners matter and why grabbing lots of discs early usually backfires. Start with the Othello strategy guide, then play the computer on Casual or Club and use the game review to find your mistakes.
Sources
- Official rules of Othello, World Othello Federation.
- Move-generation counts (perft) verified by our own engine tests.