Reversi, The Card Game

This card game is essentially the same as its namesake boardgame, Reversi (or Othello), that was originally designed in 1883. Its a light strategy game with some interesting nuances and it only requires a deck of cards to play.

No. of Players: 2

Set-up: Make sure you have a big area to play, at least 2-3 square feet. Place two cards face down, and two cards face up in a square as shown in the picture below. Count out 30 more cards for the deck. (Use 30 cards of any value you want. The number values in this game do not matter!)


To play: One player is face-up, and the other player is face-down. On your turn, draw a card from the deck and place it in such a way that you create a line in which your cards are at both endpoints. When you do so, flip all the opponents cards in between your two endpoints. It is possible to create multiple lines in which you control both endpoints when you play.

Face-down player plays a card in the upper right spot, creating a line with face-down endpoints. Face-down player flips the face-up card face-down.

Continue play, with each player drawing and playing one card per turn until...

Game end: The game ends after the last card from the deck has been played. Count how many card you have on the table (if you are face-up, count all the face-up cards). Winner is the player with the most.

Note: Cards may be played in such a way as to create either orthogonal or diagonal lines. Any opponents cards along such diathogonal lines will be flipped over. Also, in the course of the game, you should expect to flip multiple cards per turn, and sometimes you may flip cards along several different lines, but only the final orientation of the cards at the end of the game matters for scoring.