How to play Gomoku

Gomoku is the game you already half know if you have ever filled a noughts and crosses grid: get your stones in a row. Stretch the board to fifteen by fifteen and the row to five, and the doodle becomes a real fight, with real openings, real traps, and no luck anywhere.

The board and the pieces

The board is a fifteen by fifteen grid of lines, and stones are placed on the crossing points, not in the squares. One player is black, the other white. Stones never move and are never captured: once a stone is down, it stays.

How you win

Line up five or more of your stones in an unbroken row, in any direction: across, down, or diagonally. More than five counts just the same, so a line of six is a win, not a miss. If the board fills up with no five anywhere, the game is a draw.

The rules that matter

The Swap2 opening. Going first in Gomoku is a big advantage, so the opening is balanced with a bargain. One player starts by placing the first three stones alone: black, white, black. The other player then chooses one of three things. Take black. Take white. Or place two more stones (a white and a black) and hand the colour choice back to the first player, who must then pick a side.

Placing stones for both colours in the opening is normal, and you only find out which colour is yours once someone chooses. The idea is simple: whoever builds the opening has a reason to build it fairly, because their opponent gets first pick of it.

No other restrictions. Some tournament versions of this game ban certain patterns for the black player. Ours does not. Any empty point is a legal move for either colour, from the first stone to the last.

Draws. A full board with no five in a row is a draw. You can also offer your opponent a draw, up to three offers each per game. On Dream Games a drawn game means nobody loses their stake.

How a match works on Dream Games

Both players put up the same stake, and both stakes are set aside before the first move. The winner takes 90% of the pot and we keep 10% as our fee. If the game is a draw, both players get their stake back in full and we take nothing.

Each player has ten minutes on the clock for the whole game. Your clock only runs while it is your turn. Run out of time and you lose, even if you are ahead on the board.

Try it

The best way in is simply to play. Practice is free: pick a bot on easy, medium or hard, or send a friend a link. Nothing is staked and nothing is recorded, so you can experiment as much as you like.

When you are ready to play for something, find an opponent in the lobby. You see the stake and the payout before you accept, and nothing leaves your balance until you say yes.