What is Reversi for three or four players?
In this variant three or four people share one Reversi board, each with a colour of their own: Black, White, Red and, with four players, Green. Choose three or four players in the setup. The game starts with one disc of each colour on the four centre squares, in turn order going clockwise. With three players the fourth centre square holds a neutral disc that belongs to nobody.
Black moves first and the turn passes clockwise round the table. The basic move is the one you know: place a disc so that it closes a straight line of other discs between itself and a disc of your own, and turn every disc of that line to your colour. The line may mix the colours of all your opponents, and a neutral disc in it is flipped like any other. Every line you close in every direction is flipped.
The big change is what happens when you cannot flip anything. Nobody ever passes. If you have no flipping move, you place a disc on any empty square that touches a disc of any colour, along a side or a corner, and it flips nothing. This also keeps a player whose discs have all been taken in the game: they simply place a disc beside the others and fight on.
The game ends when no empty square touches a disc, which normally means the board is full. The player with the most discs of their colour wins, and neutral discs count for nobody. If two or more players share the highest count, the game is a draw for the whole table.
Three or four players need room, so the game is played on the 8×8 or 10×10 board or the Octagon. Without blocked squares, every player places the same number of discs on each of them: 20 or 15 each on 8×8, 32 or 24 on 10×10 and 28 or 21 on the Octagon. The small 6×6 board is not offered, because its 32 empty squares are too few to share and do not divide among three. With more opponents the game becomes a matter of diplomacy as well as tactics: a move that helps the player after you can cost you more than the discs it flips.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Reversi | Reversi for three or four players |
|---|---|---|
| Players | Standard ReversiTwo: Black and White. | Reversi for three or four playersThree or four: Black, White, Red and, with four players, Green. The player count is chosen in the setup. |
| Starting position | Standard ReversiTwo Black and two White discs on the four centre squares, placed crosswise. | Reversi for three or four playersOne disc of each colour on the four centre squares, clockwise in turn order. With three players the fourth disc is neutral and belongs to nobody. |
| Turn order | Standard ReversiBlack moves first, then the two players alternate. | Reversi for three or four playersBlack moves first, then the turn passes clockwise: White, Red and, with four players, Green. |
| Flipping | Standard ReversiA line of the opponent's discs between the new disc and another disc of yours is flipped. | Reversi for three or four playersA line may mix the discs of every other colour, neutral discs included, and all of them turn to your colour. |
| When you cannot flip | Standard ReversiYou pass, and the game ends when neither player can move. | Reversi for three or four playersYou never pass. Place a disc on any empty square touching a disc of any colour; it flips nothing. Flipping moves come first whenever you have one. |
| End of the game | Standard ReversiWhen neither player can move, at the latest when all 64 squares are filled. | Reversi for three or four playersWhen no empty square touches a disc: the board is full, or the squares left are walled off by blocked squares. |
| Winner | Standard ReversiMore discs wins; equal counts are a draw. | Reversi for three or four playersThe most discs wins, and neutral discs count for nobody. A tie for the lead is a draw for every player. |
| Board and options | Standard Reversi6×6, 8×8 or 10×10, the Octagon, Anti-Reversi, free opening, blocked squares and a corner handicap. | Reversi for three or four players8×8, 10×10 or the Octagon, with Anti-Reversi (fewest discs win) and blocked squares. No 6×6 board, free opening or corner handicap. |
History
Reversi has been played by more than two people almost from the start. In 1890 a book on Reversi and Go Bang by the writer who signed as Berkeley, published with Lewis Waterman's authorisation, described Royal Reversi as the latest development of the game. It was played on a specially designed board with cubes whose faces had different colours, by two people or as a round game for three to six. Each move had to turn at least one cube, a player who had lost every cube could claim a central cube called the Jack, and four or six players could also play as two sides. Unlike Reversi, a player could choose which of the outflanked rows to turn.
The form played here is closer to the multi-colour versions sold as commercial board games since the late 1990s, for two to four players with pieces in four colours. Their published rules put one piece of each colour in the centre whatever the number of players, ask for a move that captures whenever one exists, and otherwise let a player place a piece touching any piece on the board. Play goes clockwise and the game ends when the board is full.
Those rules do not say what happens to the unused centre colour in a three-player game. Here it becomes a neutral disc that anyone can flip, which is a choice made for this site. Every outflanked line is flipped, as in standard Reversi, and team play is not offered.