Quick winning principles
- Corners are permanent — never concede a corner without forcing a catastrophic trade.
- Minimize frontier discs (discs adjacent to empty squares) in the midgame.
- X-squares (diagonal to corner) are dangerous — avoid giving opponent corner access.
- Count empty regions in endgame — odd regions let the last mover flip.
Ideal strategy
- 1
Corner theory: C-squares (adjacent to corner) are only playable when you can recapture the corner. A-squares (edge next to corner) are safer early.
- 2
Mobility: maximize your legal moves while minimizing opponent's. Low mobility forces bad moves.
- 3
Frontier management: internal stable discs (no empty neighbors) are immune to flipping — build stable edges toward corners.
- 4
Parity: divide the board into regions; the player moving last in an odd-sized region gains flips. Sacrifice discs to force opponent to move first in key regions.
- 5
Opening: prefer perpendicular openings (e.g. f5/d6) over parallel — parallel gives opponent more central control.
- 6
Endgame: when 10 or fewer empties remain, calculate exact flip counts — one miscount loses 10+ discs.