# Othello (reversi) has been weakly solved

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/othello-reversi-has-been-weakly-solved/992782>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Tags:** board-card-word-game\
**Created:** [November 7, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/othello-reversi-has-been-weakly-solved/992782 "2023-11-07T21:37:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/othello-reversi-has-been-weakly-solved/992782/1 "2023-11-07T21:37:44Z")

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Paper here (pdf)

> **[2310.19387.pdf](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2310.19387.pdf)**
>
> 2.38 MB

> This paper announces a significant milestone: _Othello_ is now solved, computationally proved that perfect play by both players lead to a draw. Strong _Othello_ software has long been built using heuristically designed search techniques. Solving a game provides the solution which enables software to play the game perfectly.

Brian

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/othello-reversi-has-been-weakly-solved/992782/2 "2023-11-08T00:51:03Z")

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Does that paper delve into the starting position for Reversi which can either be like Othello’s or you can have two black ieces on one side of the opening box and two white pieces on the other side. Might that make a difference in solving the game?

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**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/othello-reversi-has-been-weakly-solved/992782/3 "2023-11-08T01:10:14Z")

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I didn’t see that, but to be honest I didn’t read the whole paper.

Brian

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/othello-reversi-has-been-weakly-solved/992782/4 "2023-11-08T21:49:41Z")

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Kind of surprising… Out of all the possible counts of pieces at the end of the game, I wouldn’t have expected perfect play to lead to exactly 32 of each (which, I believe, is the only way to get a draw).