The story of Reversi42 began many years ago, in an age when the word “smart working” didn’t even exist. Every morning, far more carefree than I am today, I would take the subway to work with a tiny 10-inch netbook. In that cramped space, I started developing the first version of my Reversi42 engine – supported by a colleague who was an expert Othello player.

I wanted to see how far I could go with minimal hardware and a few weeks of focus.
I coded offline, using my first version of Python and my beloved Vim, inside a GNU/Linux terminal where every pixel truly mattered.

The first stable release came on March 7, 2011.

VISIT THE OLD ARTICLE ABOUT REVERSI42

Years later, I reopened that old GitHub repository because I wanted to transform a legacy project into a modern testbed. I wanted to see what would happen when a prehistoric project, written in 2011 on a subway using Vim and a netbook, met the tools of 2025.

And I asked myself: how much can I build today in just a few days – backed by years of experience and the best AIs around?

Spoiler: much more than I could ever have imagined and my expectations were already high.

That’s how I opened a temporal rift, short-circuiting past and present – between the magical Vim formulas that once carried me to nirvana and the modern oracle of Cursor.

Disassemble. Rebuild. Amplify.

The new Reversi42 distills everything I’ve learned over the years:

• SOLID design principles
• Clear responsibilities, modular architecture
• Heavy use of design patterns
• A more rational, readable, testable engine
• Iterative deepening and refined alpha-beta pruning
• Clean heuristics and early transposition table optimizations
• Modern responsive UI with WebSockets
• A CI/CD pipeline

It felt like having a conversation with a younger version of myself — same passion, entirely new tools.

How Cursor Changed the Game

Cursor empowered me to:

• Perform deep structural refactoring
• Anticipate and analyze edge cases in move logic
• Compress the think–code–verify cycle
• Clarify architectures, patterns, and responsibilities

It didn’t write the code for me but it amplified my thinking, accelerating productivity to vertiginous levels. I spent nights coding without realizing time was passing.

Working with Cursor introduced me to a new programming paradigm.
Yet such power demands discipline, with experience, you learn how to guide it instead of being guided by it.

The New Reversi42

• Modern Web UI — Browser-based interface with real-time WebSocket updates
• Ultra-Fast Bitboard Engine — 50–100× faster than standard implementations
• AI Gladiators — Distinct opponents from beginner to champion, each with unique play styles and Midjourney-generated avatars
• No-Code AI Creation — Configure AI players via YAML (zero programming!)
• New AI Engine “Apocalyptron” — Super-modular and high-performance
• Opening Book System — Professional opening sequences
• Tournament Mode — Run AI competitions and benchmarks
• Highly Configurable — 200+ parameters per AI, 4 evaluation presets, parallel search
• Extensive Testbook — ~220 tests on the AI engine and 410 across the rest of the codebase

…and much more.

Here are the available AI players:

	DIVZERO.EXE The singularity has arrived	Ultimate AI entity with adaptive depth. Cold, calculating, and merciless—the embodiment of strategic perfection.
	The Oracle Prophetic vision activated	Mystical seer specializing in endgame prophecy, seeing 14 moves ahead. Unstoppable in the endgame.
	Fortress Eternal The fortress stands eternal	Impenetrable defensive master building walls of stability. The immovable object.
	The Executioner Judgement has been passed	Ruthless destroyer seeking tactical annihilation. Merciless aggression hunting for kill shots.
	The Strangler Feel your options disappear	Mobility assassin suffocating opponents by eliminating their options. Creates zugzwang positions.
	Corner Reaper The corners belongs to me	Obsessive corner specialist treating corners as sacred territory. Corners are permanence, and permanence is victory.
	Lightning Strike Speed mode activated	Blitz master valuing speed above all. Makes decisions in milliseconds. Sometimes the fastest move is the best move.
	Glitch Lord Reality.exe has stopped working	Chaotic anomaly embracing unpredictability. Controlled randomness makes it impossible to predict.
	Blitz Demon Blink and yu’ll miss it	Speed incarnate, faster than thought. Moves in under 50 milliseconds. Being first is more important than being best.
	Zen Master Find balance in all things	Enlightened teacher embodying perfect balance. Patient and educational—seeks to teach, not destroy.
	Apocalyptron The Apocalypse Engine	Ultimate configurable engine—a platform of infinite possibilities. True power comes from flexibility.

🚀 🚀 VISIT THE DEDICATED REVERSI42 PAGE ON GITHUB 🚀 🚀

So long, and thanks for all the fish.
The end of one cycle, the beginning of another.
For now, Reversi42 returns to rest — maybe just for a while.
Next time, it might awaken to play on a quantum computer, finding the perfect move beyond human reach.