What is Turn?
Turn is a daily Othello endgame puzzle where you play black in a position that is already won, but only one of ten remaining empty squares preserves that victory. The board uses standard columns a–h, gray dots mark playable squares, and the line below reads "Your move. One square keeps this." Standard Othello rules apply: a placed disc must sandwich a line of white discs against another black disc, flipping everything captured. When no square is playable, you pass and the engine takes another turn, which cuts both ways and forms the core of endgame tactics.
How to play Turn
- Tap a playable square to place a black disc and trap a line of white discs between it and another black disc.
- Keep playing against the engine until the board is full. If no square is playable, pass.
- Win by finishing with more discs than the engine. A tie is not a win.
Starting Othello from the end works well for a daily game. There are no openings to learn and no long game to play: you get a position the engine has already solved, with only one square that leads to a win. The challenge is both psychological and combinatorial. Othello players are taught to flip as few discs as possible, but Turn deliberately creates positions where that instinct leads to the wrong move. There is no undo, and the engine plays the rest perfectly, so a single click can decide the game.
Reading the feedback
There is no undo. Every move counts, the engine plays the position through to the last disc, and a lost win cannot be recovered. The error counter records each mistake. Two counters at the top show the time and the disc count.
A win is worth ten points, a loss one point, and a resignation zero. Ties are decided first by the number of errors and then by time. You get one free hint ever, in your first game only. It circles three squares, one of which is a winning move.
Modes
Endgame of the Day gives you one numbered, dated position each day, with ten empty squares. On Sundays, there are twelve.
A button below the board opens your statistics, the archive, and the leaderboard. You can register on the site, but registration is not required to play the daily game.
Tips for playing Turn
Flipping as few discs as possible is usually good Othello strategy, but it can fail here. Some positions can only be saved by a move that flips an entire line. The help warns you not to rely on that usual reflex.
Finding the winning square is only the start. Every later move must preserve the win; playing the right square does not end the game.
A pass can help or hurt. If you have no legal move, the engine takes the turn, but choosing to pass can decide the final squares.
The hint works only once, in your very first game, and it marks three candidates rather than giving the answer. Save it for a day when you are really stuck.
Common questions
Can you undo a move? No. Once a square is played, the move stays, and the engine solves the position through the final disc. A lost victory does not come back.
Is finishing tied enough? No. The help is explicit: the player with the most discs at the end wins. A tied board is not a victory.
Are there always ten empty squares? Not on Sunday. The Sunday position can have up to twelve empty squares.
Is the hint available every day? No. It appears only once, in your very first game, and marks three squares. One of them preserves the victory.