⚪ Guide

Games Like Othello and Reversi for iPhone

Othello players like one thing above all: watching a quiet move flip a whole line. Several other two-player games deliver that feeling – one of them flips the whole board.

What makes Othello Othello

Two players, perfect information, no luck, a small board, and captures that happen by surrounding rather than by jumping. The game is positional: corners are permanent, edges are strong, and material counts lie until the last ten moves. If that is what you enjoy, look for the same properties elsewhere.

Five games in the same spirit

1. Chain Reaction (PlayCascade) – also two-player, perfect information, no luck, also obsessed with corners. The difference: captures do not stop at a line. A full cell bursts into its neighbours, those can burst too, and a single move can turn most of the board. Faster and swingier than Othello, with a real opening theory of its own (Opening Moves). Free, offline, local two-player.
2. Go – the deepest of the family. Surround to capture, territory decides. Many free iPhone apps include local play and an AI; 9×9 boards keep games short.
3. Hex – connect your two sides of a hexagonal board before your opponent connects theirs. No captures, but the same corner-and-edge thinking and no draws, ever.
4. Checkers / Draughts – jumping captures rather than surrounding; the classic ruleset with multi-jumps has the same "one move takes five pieces" moment.
5. Onitama-style card-movement games – chess-like games where available moves rotate. Less about flipping, very much about reading two moves ahead.

Othello vs Chain Reaction, side by side

Choosing Othello apps on iPhone

There are many free Othello and Reversi apps. Check for a local two-player mode, an AI with several levels and no ads between moves – the same checklist as in Games Without Ads.