How to play Flip Discs
Flip Discs is the classic disc-flipping game for two, played here against the computer on an 8 × 8 board. Each disc is dark on one side and light on the other. The game starts with four discs in the centre, two of each colour. When the board is full, or neither side can move, the side with more discs wins.
The rules
- Dark moves first. Place a disc so that a straight line of the other colour sits between it and one of yours.
- Every disc in that line flips to your colour. Lines run in all eight directions, and every line the new disc closes flips at once.
- A move must flip at least one disc. If you have no such move, you pass and the other side moves again.
- When neither side can move, count the discs. The most discs wins.
Playing the computer
Choose Easy, Medium or Hard, and in Settings whether you play first or second. Easy grabs the move that flips the most discs about half the time and never looks ahead. Medium looks three moves deep and plays the last ten squares exactly. Hard plays the owl's own move and solves the last fourteen squares perfectly. Ask the owl for a hint and it names the best move with one line on why; it also says a line about each move the computer makes. Switch hints off to play alone.
Strategy
Flipping the most discs now is the beginner's trap: discs change colour many times, and only the count at the end matters. These six ideas are what the owl looks for.
- Take a corner. A disc in a corner can never be flipped, and it anchors the edges beside it.
- Don't give away a corner. The square diagonally next to an empty corner hands that corner to the other side as soon as they can flip it.
- Leave your opponent few moves. A move that leaves the computer only bad choices is worth more than discs. Count its replies, not your flips.
- Flip few discs early. The best quiet move flips discs that touch the fewest empty squares, so your opponent gets the fewest new places to play.
- Take the last move in each empty area. Late in the game the empty squares split into small areas. Try to be the one who plays last in each, so your opponent cannot answer.
- Make your opponent pass. A move that leaves your opponent with nothing to play gives you two moves in a row.