Gomoku (Five in a Row)
Gomoku is a two-player abstract strategy game played on a 15×15 lattice. Players alternate placing stones of their color on empty intersections. The first player to form an unbroken line of five stones — horizontally, vertically, or diagonally — wins.
Players
Setup
•
The board is a 15×15 grid of intersections (225 playable points)
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Each player has stones of one color (black or white)
How to Play
1.
On your turn, place exactly one stone of your color on any empty intersection
2.
Once placed, stones never move and are never captured or removed
4.
Play continues until a player wins or the board is full
Winning
A player wins immediately by forming an unbroken straight line of five or more of their own stones in any of these directions:
•
Diagonal (either direction)
This is freestyle Gomoku: an "overline" of six or more consecutive stones also counts as a win.
A single placement that completes more than one line still wins for that player.
Draw
If all 225 intersections are filled and neither player has five (or more) in a row, the game is a draw.
Variants (planned)
Renju is a balancing variant that restricts Black (the first player) by forbidding certain shapes — double-three, double-four, and overline. White plays without those restrictions. Renju requires lobby rule options and shape-threat queries that are not yet available on the platform; freestyle is the shipped ruleset.