Play online for USDC, or practise free
Gomoku
Five in a row on a fifteen by fifteen grid, and more than five still counts. The Swap2 opening lets the second player take either colour, so going first is no advantage.
The rules in brief
- The board is a fifteen by fifteen grid of lines, and stones are placed on the crossing points, not in the squares.
- 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.
- 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.
- Some tournament versions of this game ban certain patterns for the black player. Ours does not.
- If the board fills up with no five anywhere, the game is a draw.
How stakes and the fee work
You choose. The smallest allowed stake is 1 USDC and the largest is 10 000 USDC. Both players put up the same amount, and both stakes are held until the match settles.
Nothing to sit down. On a settled match we take 10% of the pot and the winner receives 90%. A draw returns each player their own stake in full and we take nothing at all.
Each player has 10 minutes for the whole of a lobby match. Tournament fixtures run on their own clock, currently 5 minutes a side. A clock that reaches zero loses on time.
Send your balance to any Polygon address you like. The fee is 1% of what you withdraw, the same for everyone, and you see the amount, the fee and what actually lands before you confirm.
Open tournaments
No tournament in this game is open for entries right now.
See all tournamentsRelated reading
- Gomoku strategy: how to win, from open threes to double threats
- Practice is free, and it is where to start