Choose your opponent
Start with Hana, your enthusiastic new neighbor; meet Jun, the café regular; or challenge Ren, the quiet club champion.
Meet all three opponentsFree browser game
Play Gomoku Against the Computer
Place stones, make an unbroken row of five, and test your plans against a computer opponent—no account or download required.
Our Gomoku rules
This is freestyle Gomoku on a 15 by 15 board: the first player to make a continuous line of five or more stones wins. The five marked reference points help you read the board, but you may play on any empty intersection—including on your first turn.
Some competitive rule sets use different restrictions. Renju, for example, limits certain Black patterns; those restrictions, exact-five-only rules, captures, and opening swaps are not used in this version.
Make threats, not just lines
A four in a row demands attention. An open four usually wins because both ends threaten five. The strongest attacks create two threats at once, such as a four-and-three or double-three.
Read the tactics guideFrom five stones to Renju
Gomoku has a documented history in Japan stretching back to the Edo period. Later players developed Renju, a competitive relative with rules designed to balance Black's first-move advantage.
Explore Gomoku's history