Gomoku FAQ: Board Size, Rules, Renju and More

Yes. “Gomoku”, “five in a row”, “five-in-a-row”, “gobang” and “connect five” are all names for the same game: players alternate placing stones on a grid and the first to line up five wins. The Japanese name gomoku is the one most widely used in English.

The standard board is 15 × 15 points (fifteen lines in each direction, 225 intersections). Thirteen-by-thirteen and nineteen-by-nineteen boards also exist, and 15 × 15 is the size used in competition and on this site.

In its free-style form, yes: on a 15 × 15 board gomoku was proven to be a first-player win by L. Victor Allis in 1993. With perfect play black always wins. That is why competitive renju adds forbidden moves for black to restore the balance.

Renju is competitive gomoku. In renju, black — the first player — may not make an overline (six or more in a row), a double four or a double three, and must win with exactly five. White has no such restrictions. In free-style gomoku, anyone can make any shape and five or more wins. The board on this site lets you switch between the two rule sets from the Rules menu.

Yes — all the time, especially between humans. White is at a mathematical disadvantage under perfect play, but casual games are decided by threats and mistakes, not by theory. White often wins by counter-attacking while black overextends.

Most games take between two and ten minutes. A game can end in as few as nine moves if one player blunders, and a long defensive game might run to sixty or more. Online games tend to be quick because the board rewards aggressive play.

No. The game on this site runs entirely in your browser, works on phones and computers, and needs no account. Your moves are not stored anywhere.

Because it is looking for the same shapes described in the strategy guide — open threes, fours and double threats. On Hard it also searches several moves ahead, so it sees your threat forming before you complete it. The fix is not a trick; it is making two threats at once.