Iagno Users Guide
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Playing Othello

The board starts with four tiles arranged in a box on the middle of the board. The tiles have the same color at each corner, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Starting Position

Black goes first and places a tile on the board such that it traps white's tiles between two of black's tiles. When black places a tile on the board all of white's tiles between black's newly placed tile and another black tile, in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row, are flipped over and become black, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. First Move

When there is tile trapped between two tiles, of an identical color in the same row, the player captures tiles until another tile of the player's color is encountered, as shown in Figure 3. The player can only take tiles that are a direct result of the placing a tile on the board. Once a tile is placed on the board the player cannot remove it and place the tile somewhere else. If a player cannot move they forfeit their turn. The game ends when it is no longer possible for either player to move.

Figure 3. Black cannot take the white tile because there is a black tile "blocking" the row.