Stones stay put
After a stone is placed, it normally remains there for the rest of the game. There are no captures in standard Gomoku.
Gomoku guide
Gomoku names, culture, and fun facts
A five-in-a-row game can look almost self-explanatory, but its names, board markings, and competitive relatives carry a surprising amount of history.
What does “Gomoku” mean?
The fuller Japanese name is gomoku narabe (五目並べ), commonly understood as arranging five pieces or points in a row. English speakers usually shorten it to Gomoku. The name describes the goal directly: make a line of five.
Related names appear across East Asia. In China, five-in-a-row is commonly called wuziqi (五子棋); in Korea, it is called omok (오목). Rules and competitive customs can vary even when the central idea is the same.
Gomoku is not Go
The two games can share a wooden grid and black-and-white stones, which makes the confusion understandable. Their goals are unrelated: Go rewards territory and captures, while Gomoku ends when one player completes a line. A Gomoku game can therefore be taught in a minute even though its threat combinations take much longer to master.
Why are there five dots on the board?
On the standard 15 by 15 Renju board, five marked intersections act as reference points. They help players orient themselves and discuss positions. The dots do not award points, block a line, or make a move stronger. In this site's freestyle game, the centre is strategically useful but never mandatory.
Five quick facts
Six can be called an overline
Renju terminology calls an unbroken row of six or more an overline. Whether it wins depends on the rule set; it wins in this site's freestyle game.
A “four” may contain a gap
In formal pattern language, a four is a row that can become five with one move. The four stones do not always have to sit side by side.
The first move matters
Black's advantage is the reason competitive variants use restrictions or opening procedures. Casual freestyle play usually keeps the simpler rules.
Renju means connected pearls
The name evokes a string of pearls—a fitting image for stones joined into a winning row.
A useful historical caution
You may encounter confident stories that date Gomoku to a precise ancient ruler or dynasty. Game histories often repeat such traditions without surviving rules or boards that prove they describe modern Gomoku. The documented Japanese publications from the Edo period provide firmer ground than assigning the game one legendary inventor.
Sources and further reading
- Japan Renju Association: history
- International rules and terminology of Renju
- Japan Renju Association: the modern game
History and origins
Follow Gomoku from Edo-period books to international Renju competition.
Read the historyRules and tactics
Learn how fours, open threes, and forks create forced replies.
Read the tactics guide