Odin's Reversi

Need a hand? Email sean@hollender-consulting.com and I'll get back to you.

GETTING STARTED

Odin's Reversi is a one-time purchase: no ads, no tracking and nothing more to buy. It plays on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Mac, and everything but the online modes, leaderboards and achievements works with no account and no network at all.

Every board shares one move. On your turn you place a shield on an empty cell so that it closes off a straight line of your opponent's shields — across, down or on a diagonal — between it and one of your own, and every line it closes, in every direction, turns over to your side. The small dots on the board show where you can place. If you have no such placement, you pass and your opponent places again, and the board says so: "Light has no move. Dark plays again." When neither side can place, the game is over and the side with more shields on the board wins; equal counts are a draw. One House Rule, Loki's Game, turns that round: the fewest shields wins.

• iPhone and iPad — tap a cell, or drag your finger across the board to choose the cell before you lift it; a faint shield shows where yours would go. A finger close to a cell you can place on counts as that cell, so even the small cells of the Grand board are easy to hit.
• Apple TV — swipe on the remote to move the highlight to a cell and click to place your shield. The game's controls are on the side rail to the left of the board. During a game, Back (Menu) or Play/Pause opens the Paused card, with Resume and Main Menu; on any other screen, Back closes it.
• Mac — click a cell, or move the highlight with the arrow keys and press Return (or Space) to place; Esc clears the highlight. From the keyboard: Command-Z undo, Shift-Command-R restart, Shift-Command-M sound, Command-? How to Play. The Help menu opens the Video Instructions and How to Play.

WAYS TO PLAY

• Vs the computer — Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert on any board. You play Dark, which places first.
• Pass & Play — two people sharing one screen; after each turn the screen says who to hand it to.
• Play Online — Quick Async Match, Live Match, or an invitation to a friend.
• Play Someone Nearby — two devices in the same room, no account needed.

VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS

The Video Instructions teach the game in a little over two minutes, on the real board: the placement and the turn, corners, the pass and the count, the three boards, every House Rule and the ways to play. Open them from the link at the top of the main menu (on Apple TV, above the picture of the board), from any How to Play page, or on a Mac from the Help menu. The player has chapters, a transcript of every caption and five-second skips; with Reduce Motion on, it moves one step at a time instead.

THE THREE BOARDS

One rule, three sizes. Every board opens with four shields on the four centre cells — two Dark and two Light, each pair on a diagonal — unless Victorian Rules are on.

• Quick — 6 × 6, a short game: the small board for the youngest players.
• Classic — 8 × 8, the board the world plays.
• Grand — 10 × 10, a long, deep game.

Pick a board in World of Reversi, the first of the round buttons on the main menu, or with the board button just above the four doors. Your choice applies to new games — a game already under way keeps the board it started on. How to Play, also on the main menu, gives you the rules of whichever board is selected, with a card for each House Rule that is on.

HOUSE RULES

House Rules, the third round button on the main menu (and a row in World of Reversi), adds six optional rules to any board. Switch on any of them, in any combination — except that Odin's Favor cannot be on with World Serpent, Loki's Game or Norns' Opening:

• Runestones — runestones are set on the board before play, in different places every game: two on Quick, four on Classic and six on Grand, in pairs facing each other across the centre, never in a corner or close to the centre. No shield is placed on a runestone; it never turns, counts for no one, and no line runs through it.
• World Serpent — the board's edges wrap around, as Jörmungandr circles Midgard: a line that leaves one edge carries on from the opposite edge, so the board has no corners.
• Loki's Game — the side with the fewest shields at the end wins. Everything else is the same.
• Norns' Opening — the game opens from a dealt position: the first placements — four on Quick, eight on Classic, ten on Grand — are played for you, chosen so that neither side starts ahead.
• Odin's Favor — a handicap: one side starts the game already holding corners. Choose one, two, three or four corners, and whether Dark or Light holds them. World Serpent's board has no corners, under Loki's Game a corner is a burden, and Norns' Opening deals a start in which neither side is ahead, so switching any of those on switches Odin's Favor off, and the screen says why. A game against the computer in which Odin's Favor is on your own side counts as assisted, like a coached one: it still earns XP and counts in your record, but it stays off the best-streak and fastest-Expert leaderboards and out of the Unaided achievement, and its corners never earn Four Corners.
• Victorian Rules — the 1880s London rules: the board starts empty, apart from any runestones or Odin's Favor corners, and the first four shields must fill the four centre cells, turning nothing. Each side has a limited supply of shields — half of the cells that are not runestones — and a side with none left must pass.

House Rules apply to every new game — solo, Pass & Play, online and nearby — and never change a game already under way; a saved game keeps the rules it started with. Online and nearby, a game is played under the House Rules of the player who opens it, so both players always play the same game — all but Odin's Favor, which only an invitation carries: a game that matchmaking finds for you is never handicapped. An invitation from a friend for a turn-based game, or from someone nearby, names those rules — and, with Odin's Favor, which side you will play — before you accept. The game screen names the board, the goal and every rule in play, and How to Play, opened during a game, shows a card for each rule in play. A win against the computer with a House Rule on earns the Law of the Longhouse achievement.

THE SHIELDS, AND WHO IS WHO

Every shield has a dark face and a light face, and the two sides are called Dark and Light in every style; Dark places first. A style has twenty-five faces of each kind, and every game deals each shield its own two faces at random. The deal travels with the game: a saved game, a replay and an online opponent using the same style all see the same faces, and a shield that turns over shows its own other face. The player cards show who holds each side and how many shields each has on the board.

Settings > Shields offers five styles — Painted (the default), Realistic, Viking Art, Basic and Rune Coins — and Settings > Board three looks for the board: Green Leather (the default), Oak & Iron and Engraved Cherry. Both choices belong to your device — an online opponent sees the shields and board they picked — and both are only a look: they never change how the game plays, and there is nothing to collect or unlock.

THE COMPUTER OPPONENTS

Four strengths that genuinely play differently. Easy plays loosely: about a third of its placements are picked at random. Medium thinks a few moves ahead, and now and then plays a random placement — though not, if it can help it, one beside an empty corner. Hard plans carefully, and once the board is nearly full it searches through to the end of the game. Expert looks deeper still and starts searching to the end sooner. Expert thinks against a clock rather than playing perfectly, so it can be beaten on Classic and Grand. Quick is different: six squares a side is a win for the second player with perfect play, in a game against the computer you are Dark, who places first, and Expert plays the small board close to perfectly — so the fastest-Expert leaderboard takes times from Classic and Grand only.

THE COACH

Switch Coach on before you start a game against the computer — it is on the Solo Game screen — or press the Coach button (the lightbulb) during one, and the coach rings the placement it would make, with a line saying when that placement leaves your opponent no move or hands them a corner. It exists only in games against the computer; a hint in Pass & Play would be read by the person sitting opposite you.

A game you start with the Coach switched on still goes into your win/loss record, but it earns no XP. Turning the Coach on part-way through a game marks that game as assisted, and the app says so first: it still earns XP and counts in your record, but it stays off the best-streak and fastest-Expert leaderboards and out of the Unaided achievement.

UNDO AND RESTART

Undo takes back your last turn: against the computer, the computer's placements since then go too, so the board is back where it was your move; in Pass & Play it takes back one placement. Restart clears the board and starts a new game on the same board against the same opponent, with freshly dealt shield faces — and runestones, if they are on — and the House Rules as they are set now. Both are among the game's round controls (on Apple TV, on the side rail), and neither exists in an online match — there is no taking a move back from an opponent. Online, that control is Resign instead.

SAVED GAMES

Up to six games are kept, and every placement saves automatically, so leaving the app never loses a game. The game at the top of your list is the Continue card on the main menu, and a new game joins the list at the top; once there is more than one, Saved beside the rank badge opens them all. There, swipe left on a game to rename or delete it, and drag a game up or down to put another one on the Continue card; on a Mac, swipe left with two fingers or right-click, and on Apple TV, press and hold a game. Holding the Continue card itself (or right-clicking it) renames or deletes that game too. A finished game leaves the list. Turn-based online matches are not saved this way — they live on Game Center's side and wait for you on the Play Online hub — and a live or nearby game ends if either player leaves it.

MY GAMES AREN'T SYNCING BETWEEN DEVICES

Saved games, your records, your rank and even your chosen language sync through your own iCloud account; your House Rules, shield style, board look and sound setting stay on each device. Make sure every device is signed in to the same Apple Account with iCloud Drive turned on. On Apple TV that is under Settings > Users and Accounts. After a fresh install it can take a moment — or one relaunch — for the first sync to arrive.

APPLE TV IS A SHARED DEVICE

On Apple TV each person's profile gets its own saved games, records, rank and Game Center account. Switching profiles in Control Center switches the app over to that person's games.

PLAYING ONLINE

Three ways to play someone who isn't in the room:

• Quick Async Match — pairs you with another player on the board you picked. It is turn-based, so you each move at your own pace over hours or days, and Game Center tells you when it's your move.
• Live Match — both of you connected at once, moves landing instantly.
• Invite a Friend — choose Live or Async, pick someone, and they are asked to accept. An async invitation arrives on their Play Online hub as its own row, naming the board and any House Rules, with Join and Decline.

These three need you signed in to Game Center (Settings > Game Center), and so do the leaderboards and achievements; signed out, the trophy button on the main menu asks you to sign in.

The hub lists the three boards. A board marked Players active has had players looking for a game there recently. The others say Tap to check (Press to check on Apple TV), which is not the same as empty: choose the row and the app asks Game Center whether anyone is waiting on that board, and opens their match if someone is. Matchmaking is per board, not per House Rule: a Quick Async Match on Grand pairs you with somebody else who chose Grand, and the game is played under the House Rules of whoever opened it, without Odin's Favor. Matches waiting on you are listed under Your Move; touch and hold a match (press and hold on Apple TV) to leave it.

The player who opens an online or nearby game plays Dark and places first. When a game ends, either player can offer a rematch. In a live or nearby rematch the sides swap, so whoever placed second last time places first; in a turn-based rematch, whoever starts it takes the first placement. Every rematch deals fresh shield faces and keeps the House Rules of the game before it; when the sides swap, Odin's Favor goes with the player it favoured.

WHY CAN'T THIS ACCOUNT SEND A LIVE INVITATION?

Because Game Center will not deliver a live invitation from an account that has communication limits, and on a child account those come from the account's age under Family Sharing — not from anything set in Screen Time. Nothing you can switch on the device changes it. The app checks before it asks, so you get an explanation instead of an invitation that silently never arrives.

Everything else on that account still works: Live Match will still find a random opponent, a friend can still invite that account, Quick Async Match works normally, and Play Someone Nearby doesn't use Game Center at all.

There is a second, different case. If Multiplayer Games is switched off for the account, live play cannot connect at all — and that one IS a Screen Time setting. Whoever set the device up can allow it under Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions. Nearby play works either way.

LIVE MATCH ON APPLE TV

Apple allows real-time matchmaking only for the Apple TV's main user. An added profile is refused by Game Center itself, even when it is signed in to iCloud, and the app says so on the search screen rather than spinning. Quick Async Match works for every profile, and so does Play Someone Nearby.

PLAYING SOMEONE NEARBY

Play Someone Nearby is separate from the three modes above and does not need Game Center or the internet. Two devices on the same local network find each other and connect directly. Each device is listed by name: your Game Center nickname and the kind of device — "Erik · iPad", say — if you are signed in, otherwise the device's own name. Whoever sends the invitation chooses the board and plays Dark, and the invitation names the board and any House Rules before the other player accepts. If the connection drops during a game, the board says so and the two devices spend up to 90 seconds reconnecting before the game is called off.

I CAN'T FIND ANYONE NEARBY

Both devices have to be on the same network with the Play Someone Nearby screen open — opening it is what starts the search. The first time you open it, the device asks permission to find things on your local network; if that was declined the app cannot see anyone, and it will say so. Turn it back on in Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network (on Mac, System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network).

CAN I PLAY WITHOUT AN INTERNET CONNECTION?

Yes. All three boards, all six House Rules, all four computer strengths, Pass & Play, saved games, undo, the coach and the Video Instructions work with no network at all and with no account. Only the online modes, leaderboards and achievements need connectivity — Play Someone Nearby needs a local network but no internet.

RANK, LEADERBOARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Every finished game against the computer, online or nearby earns XP, and XP climbs your level: Wanderer, Raider, Shieldbearer, Huscarl, Jarl, High King, and then Grand King, numbered again every five levels. Against the computer a win earns the full amount for the difficulty you beat — Expert is worth twelve times Easy — a draw half and a loss a quarter, and the board scales it: Quick is worth three quarters of Classic, and Grand a quarter more. Online, a game against a player ranked above you pays more and one against a player below you less; a nearby game pays the same whoever you play. The first XP-earning game you play on each board each day carries a small bonus. Your Rank, opened from the rank badge beside Play, shows where you stand; Your Games keeps your wins, games played, best streak and record on each board.

Signed in to Game Center there are 9 leaderboards — total wins, best streak, fastest Expert win, weekly wins, online wins, rank, and one for each of the three boards — and 22 achievements. Trophies on the main menu opens them.

WHY DIDN'T THAT GAME EARN ANY XP?

Three reasons, all deliberate. Pass & Play earns nothing, because there is no single player to credit. A game started with the Coach switched on earns nothing. And there is a daily ceiling of 600 XP on games against the computer — once you reach it the result screen says so, and it resets the next day. Games against other people are not capped.

I CAN'T HEAR ANY SOUND

Sound has its own switch inside the app — among the game's round controls (on Apple TV, on the side rail), in Settings, and on a Mac in the Game menu — and it is deliberately independent of the ring/silent switch, so check the in-app setting first. iPhone also plays a small haptic with each sound, and that one is independent of the sound setting; iPad has no haptic engine, so it stays quiet there by design.

WIDGET AND SIRI

On iPhone and iPad, the Your Turn widget shows a turn-based match that is waiting on your move; tapping it opens that match. You can also say "Continue my Reversi game" to Siri, which opens your most recent game.

CHANGING THE LANGUAGE

Odin's Reversi is playable in 50 languages. It follows your device by default, and you can override it under Settings > Language — the change applies immediately, with no relaunch, and travels to your other devices through iCloud.

ACCESSIBILITY

Every cell of the board is a button that VoiceOver reads by its row and column and what is on it — a Dark or Light shield, a runestone, or nothing — adding whether you can place there, whether the coach recommends it and whether it was the last placement. A pass is announced, and so is the result. The two sides differ by tone as well as by name: in every style the Light shields are the light ones. On iPhone and iPad, text follows your Dynamic Type size, and with Reduce Motion on, a turning shield fades to its other face instead of flipping.

IS THERE ANYTHING TO BUY INSIDE THE APP?

No. Your purchase is the whole game: there are no ads, no tracking, no in-app purchases, no subscription and no locked boards. There are no analytics and no third-party software development kits of any kind in the app, and nothing about you is collected or sent to us. The only thing the app ever promotes is our own other games: More Games From Us opens our page on the App Store (on Apple TV, a code to scan with your phone), and you can walk straight past it. On iPhone, iPad and Mac, after your third, tenth and twenty-fifth win against the computer it may ask — through Apple's own rating prompt, never more than once a month, and never again once you have tapped Rate — whether you'd rate it. The full details are on the privacy page: https://www.hollender-consulting.com/odins-reversi-privacy

CONTACT

sean@hollender-consulting.com

Hollender Consulting, LLC — https://www.hollender-consulting.com/