wxReversi

A portable wxWidgets port of the classic Windows Reversi game by Chris Peters. The original Win16 sample has been split into a GUI-free C++ engine and a thin wxWidgets front-end, so it now builds and runs natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux/GTK.

Screenshots

• macOS:

• Windows:

• Linux:

Features

• Faithful reproduction of the original Microsoft Reversi gameplay
• Four skill levels (alpha-beta search depths 1, 2, 4, 6): Beginner, Novice, Expert, Master
• Hint (flashing marker) and Pass commands
• Color / monochrome board modes
• Legal-move cursor feedback (cross on legal squares, arrow otherwise)
• Resizable, flicker-free buffered rendering
• XRC resources (reversi.xrc + pattern bitmaps) compiled with wxrc and embedded into the executable via bin2c — no runtime data files required
• Platform integration:
  • Windows: GUI subsystem, icon + manifest (reversi.rc, reversi.ico)
  • macOS: .app bundle with reversi.icns
  • Linux: .desktop entry, AppStream metainfo, hicolor icon set

Project layout

File / dir	Purpose
reversi_engine.{h,cpp}	Portable engine: board state, move generation, alpha-beta search
reversi_wx.cpp	wxWidgets front-end (wxApp, wxFrame, BoardPanel)
reversi.xrc	XRC resource file referencing the pattern bitmaps
REVPAT1.bmp, REVPAT8.bmp	Monochrome / 8-bit board pattern bitmaps
bin2c.c	Host tool that embeds the compiled .xrs archive as a C byte array
cmake/HostCompile.cmake	Helper to build bin2c with the host compiler even when cross-compiling
reversi.rc, reversi.manifest, reversi.ico	Windows resources
reversi.icns, reversi.iconset/	macOS bundle icon
sizes/	Linux hicolor icon theme (16x16 … 256x256, scalable)
wxmine.desktop, wxmine.metainfo.xml	Linux desktop / AppStream files

Requirements

• CMake 3.16 or newer
• wxWidgets 3.0+ (3.2+ recommended), built with the core, base, xml, and xrc components, and including the wxrc resource compiler
• A C++17 compiler (MSVC, Clang, or GCC)

Installing wxWidgets

• Linux (Debian/Ubuntu): sudo apt install libwxgtk3.2-dev
• macOS (Homebrew): brew install wxwidgets
• Windows: build wxWidgets from source and set wxWidgets_ROOT_DIR (or use the official pre-built binaries)

Building

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build --config Release

The build does the following extra steps automatically:

1. Compiles the host tool bin2c with HostCompile.cmake.
2. Runs wxrc to pack reversi.xrc + the two BMPs into reversi.xrs.
3. Runs bin2c to turn reversi.xrs into reversi_xrs.h, which is compiled into the executable.

Running

• Linux: ./build/wxreversi
• macOS: open build/wxreversi.app
• Windows: build\Release\wxreversi.exe

Installing (Linux)

cmake --install build --prefix /usr/local

Installs the binary to bin/, the .desktop file to share/applications/, the AppStream metainfo to share/metainfo/, and the icon set to share/icons/hicolor/.

How to play

You (red / white) play against the computer (blue / black). Click any square where the cursor becomes a cross to place a piece; all bracketed enemy pieces are flipped to your colour. The computer replies automatically.

Menu	Action
Game → New	Start a new game
Game → Hint	Flash the engine's recommended move (marks the session as a "Practice Game")
Game → Pass	Pass when no legal move is available
Game → Change Color Mode	Toggle between color and black-and-white boards
Skill	Select search depth: Beginner / Novice / Expert / Master
Help → About	About dialog

Keyboard: Ctrl+H hints, Return / Space plays the first legal move in preference order.

The game ends when neither side has a legal move; the final score is displayed along with the margin of victory.

Engine notes

• Board is a 10x10 sentinel-padded uint8_t[100] (squares 11..88 are playable), which lets the flipping loops safely walk off the edge.
• Search: alpha-beta with a fixed move-ordering table (corners first, edges next, interior last). Depths 1 / 2 / 4 / 6 match the original skill levels.
• The engine preallocates MaxDepth + 2 board copies so the recursive search performs no heap allocation.
• reversi_engine.{h,cpp} is entirely GUI-free — it can be reused with any C++ front-end (Qt, SDL, a CLI, etc.).

Credits

• Original game: Microsoft / Chris Peters (Windows Reversi sample)
• wxWidgets port: 2026