Othello: The Flipping Game, Its Rules and Its Editions

What the Othello game is

Othello is a two-player strategy game with no luck in it. No dice, no cards, no hidden information. Both players see everything, all the time. The better plan wins.

The equipment is short. An 8 by 8 board of 64 squares, and 64 identical discs, each dark on one face and light on the other. Each player owns one color. When you trap your opponent's discs in a line, they flip over and become yours. By the end, the board is a mix of both colors, and whoever has more showing wins.

Box facts, from the two listings in our data:

• Players: exactly 2 (both listings)
• Ages: 8+ (Ravensburger listing); the Spin Master listing doesn't say
• Play time: 20 to 30 minutes (Spin Master listing); the Ravensburger listing doesn't say
• Contents: 64 reversible tokens and a game board (Spin Master listing)
• Type: strategy, competitive

The World Othello Federation's site carries a trademark line naming Othello, Co. and MegaHouse. The two boxes on Amazon US come from Spin Master and Ravensburger.

How Othello plays

We couldn't find the Spin Master or Ravensburger rule sheet online, so the rules below are my own summary of the World Othello Federation's official English rules. Your box's sheet may use different words, but the game is the same one the federation describes.

Setup

Each player takes 32 discs and picks a color for the whole game. Four discs start in the middle of the board: two of each color, placed diagonally, as the official diagram shows. The other 60 squares are empty.

Black moves first. After that, turns alternate.

A move

On your turn, you place one disc of your color on an empty square. The placement has to trap at least one of your opponent's discs. Trapping, which the rules call outflanking, means a straight line of the other color has your new disc at one end and one of your discs at the other.

Then you flip every trapped disc to your color.

The line can run in any of eight directions: up, down, left, right or any diagonal. A single move can trap lines in several directions at once, and you flip all of them.

Four rules people get wrong

These are the details that start arguments, all straight from the official rules:

1. You must flip every trapped disc. Even if you'd rather not. There's no picking and choosing.
2. Only the line from the new disc counts. Discs that happen to look trapped somewhere else on the board stay put. Flips come only from the disc you just placed.
3. You can't skip over your own disc. If one of your discs sits in the middle of the line, the trap stops there.
4. You can't pass if you have a legal move. If any move would flip at least one disc, you have to make one. You only pass when no move exists.

That last one is my favorite. It's the only game I own that won't let me sulk. If there's a move, you're making it.

How it ends

The game ends when neither player can make a legal move. Usually that's when the board fills, but it can end earlier if both players are stuck. Count the discs. More of your color showing wins.

Here's a bit of math the rules imply. Four squares start filled, and each move fills one more, so a game can last at most 60 moves. Sixty is a number my seventh graders can count to and still argue about.

Discs never move

Once a disc is placed, it stays on that square for the rest of the game. It can change color, maybe many times, but it never moves. That's the whole texture of Othello: a board that fills up, square by square, while the colors keep changing hands.

Teaching Othello in five minutes

Othello is one of the quickest games to teach, which is part of why it lasts. Here's how I'd explain it to a first-time player, in order:

1. Show the four middle discs. Two of each color, set diagonally.
2. Show one legal move. Place a disc so one of theirs sits between your new disc and an old one. Flip it.
3. Show a move that flips two directions. Now they see that lines run every way, diagonals included.
4. Show a pass. Explain that you only pass when no move flips anything.
5. Play. Count discs at the end, together.

Most of the learning happens in the first game, around the time the first corner gets taken. You don't need to explain corners in advance. The board does it for you.

A few house rules for a first game with a younger player, none of them official:

• Point out legal moves if they ask, for the first few turns
• One take-back per game for the newer player
• Switch colors for the second game, so nobody's stuck as Black every time

Strategy you can see from the rules

I won't hand you an opening book. But a few things follow directly from the rules, and they're the first things a new player figures out.

• Corners can't be flipped. A disc in a corner has no square beyond it on either side, so it can never be trapped. Once you hold a corner, it's yours for good.
• Edges are safer than the middle. An edge disc can only be trapped along the edge, not from the outside.
• Flipping a lot isn't always good. A big flip can hand your opponent a better reply. Count what your move opens up, not only what it takes.
• Fewer moves for them is good for you. Since you can't pass with a legal move, squeezing your opponent's choices can force them into bad squares.

My one opinion for this page: buy Othello for the group you actually have. Both listings here are strictly 2 players, and the rules are written for two. That makes it a great game for a parent and a kid, two roommates or two coworkers on a lunch break. It's the wrong box for a family of five on a Friday.

Lucho asked me once why the discs don't just pick a side. I told him they're the most open-minded pieces in the game closet. He said he knows some people like that, and they're also hard to play against.

Othello as a family game

Othello fits a family shelf for plain reasons. Setup is four discs. There are no cards to read, no money to count and no score sheet, so a player who isn't reading yet can still follow everything on the board. The board is the score. Anybody can count it.

It also travels well between ages. A 9-year-old and a grandparent play the same game under the same rules, with nothing to simplify. The difference between them shows up only in where they put the discs.

The downside is the same thing from the other side. With no luck at all, the stronger player tends to win, game after game. If that's going to sting, play a short series and keep score across the games, or try the take-back house rule above. And put the newer player on the side of the board facing the light, so the colors are easy to read. That one's just good manners.

Othello editions on Amazon US right now

Our data for this page lists two Othello editions on Amazon US as of October 2026. The table above shows what each listing states.

Spin Master Othello Classic

The listing names 64 reversible tokens and a game board, 2 players, 20 to 30 minutes and a strategy game type, and labels it a classic edition. It doesn't state an age in our data.

That 64-token count matches the official rules exactly, one disc per square.

Ravensburger Othello

The listing says 2 players and ages 8+, and tags it as a strategy game. It doesn't list contents or play time in our data. If those details matter to you, the listing page is the place to check before you buy.

Choosing between them

They're the same game. The difference is what each listing tells you. The Spin Master listing gives you the contents and the time. The Ravensburger listing gives you the age. If you're buying for a child and want an age on the label, the Ravensburger listing is the one that states it.

Small parts

Othello discs are small. Check the age label on the listing. Toys with small parts are a choking hazard for children under 3. Keep a stray disc off the floor if there's a toddler in the house.

Who should skip Othello

Skip it if you need a game for three or more. There's no official way to add players.

Skip it if the loser at your table hates feeling outplayed. With no luck in Othello, there's nothing else to blame. A friendly dice game spreads the blame around better.

And skip it if your group wants talk and table chatter. Othello is two people staring at a board. That's the appeal for some of us, and the reason others reach for a party game.

If you like Othello, look at these

Pages chosen by what they share with Othello: two players, no luck, and pieces that sit on a grid.

• Checkers: jumps instead of flips, same face-off
• Chess sets: the deep end of two-player strategy
• Strategy board games: the wider shelf
• Classic board games: games that stay on the shelf for decades
• Blokus: another board that fills up square by square

See the Spin Master and Ravensburger brand pages for the rest of each lineup.

Take a corner when you can. It's the one disc nobody can take back.