Gomoku
The classic Five in a Row game on a 15×15 board. Play the black stones against a thinking computer — take turns placing one stone at a time and be the first to line up five in an unbroken row. Choose Easy, Medium or Hard.
You win! 🎉
What is Gomoku?
Gomoku is a two-player strategy game — also known as Five in a Row and, historically, as Gobang — played by placing black and white stones on the intersections of a gridded board. The name comes from Japanese words meaning roughly "five stones," and that is exactly the goal: be the first player to line up five of your own stones in an unbroken row. Those five can run horizontally, vertically or along either diagonal, and it is that simple, universal aim that makes Gomoku so easy to learn and so hard to master. On vygam you command the black stones and always move first, dropping one stone per turn onto any empty intersection of a 15×15 board, while a computer opponent answers with white.
What looks at first glance like a bigger cousin of noughts and crosses quickly reveals a surprising amount of depth. Because a single stone can belong to several potential lines at once, strong play is all about building threats and forcing your opponent to respond. Create two threats in one move — a fork — and your rival can only block one of them, handing you the win. Skilled players think several moves ahead, weaving open threes into open fours while keeping a careful eye on their opponent's growing lines. Gomoku has been played for well over a century across East Asia and is entirely in the public domain, which is why you will find it under many names; here we use the friendly, widely recognised title Gomoku. A couple of rounds sharpen your pattern recognition, your planning and your instinct for when to attack and when to defend.
How to Play
Gomoku has only a handful of rules, and a move is simply not allowed when:
- you try to play on an intersection that is already occupied — every stone must go on an empty point;
- you attempt to move or remove a stone once it is placed — stones never shift and are never captured, they only stack up on the board;
- you try to take two turns in a row — players strictly alternate, one single stone per turn;
- you keep playing after five in a row has appeared — the moment either colour completes an unbroken line of five, the game is over and that player has won.
Gomoku Tips & Strategy
Gomoku rewards players who attack and defend at the same time. A stone is rarely just one thing — it usually threatens a line while also blocking one of your opponent's. Master these four ideas and you will start to beat the Medium and Hard computer with room to spare.
Build open threes and fours
An "open three" is three of your stones in a row with empty points on both ends; left alone it becomes an open four, which is unstoppable because it threatens five at two different points at once. Chaining threats like this forces your opponent to keep defending while you dictate the pace. Every time you create an open three, you are asking a question your rival must answer — and while they answer, you build the next threat.
Win with a double threat (a fork)
The cleanest way to win is to make one move that creates two separate threats of five — for example a four and an open three, or two open threes crossing at a point. Your opponent can only block one, so the other completes on your next turn. Look for intersections where several of your lines cross; those junction points are where forks are born.
Block early, block the open end
Do not wait until your opponent has four in a row to react. As soon as they form an open three, block one end before it can grow into an open four you cannot stop. When you do block, always cover the open end that gives them the most room — closing off the side with space behind it is far more valuable than the side already near the board edge.
Fight for the centre
Stones near the middle of the board touch more potential lines than stones stuck by the edge, so early play belongs in the centre. Opening in or near the middle keeps all four directions open and gives your stones the maximum number of ways to combine into fives. Push your opponent toward the rim, where their lines run out of room, and keep your own formation flexible and connected.
Gomoku Difficulty Levels
vygam offers three levels so the challenge can grow with you. Easy plays a loose, forgiving game — it still completes an obvious five and stops you from finishing yours, but it does not always find the strongest reply, so it is a relaxed way to learn how threats and blocks work. Medium defends soundly with a proper threat-based evaluation: it values open twos, threes and fours the way a human does, punishes careless attacks and will happily convert a fork if you leave one open.
Hard looks a move deeper, weighting both the threats it can build and the ones it must stop, so it rarely walks into a fork and squeezes hard once the board fills with stones. Whatever the level, the computer always completes its own five when it can and blocks your immediate five, so sloppy play is punished. Your win–loss record against the computer is saved on your device, so you can track your progress as you climb from Easy to Hard, and the last stone played is marked so you can always see the reply you just faced. Undo steps your last move back if you tap an intersection by mistake, letting you experiment freely as you learn the patterns.
FAQ
Is Gomoku free to play?
Yes — Gomoku on vygam is completely free. There is no download and no sign-up; it plays instantly in your browser on phones, tablets and computers.
How do you win at Gomoku?
You win by being the first player to line up five of your own stones in an unbroken row — horizontally, vertically or diagonally. You place black and move first; the computer answers with white. Every turn is a single stone dropped on an empty intersection.
What is the difference between Gomoku and Tic-Tac-Toe?
Both are line-up-in-a-row games, but Gomoku is played on a much larger 15×15 board and needs five in a row instead of three. That extra size turns a solved children's game into a deep game of threats, forks and defence that rewards planning several moves ahead.
Does the first player have an advantage in Gomoku?
Yes. Moving first with black is a genuine edge because you set the pace and can build the first threat. Serious tournaments add opening rules to balance it, but in a casual game the best counter is simply to defend actively — block open threes early and do not let your opponent create two threats at once.
How does the computer opponent work?
The white stones are driven by a threat-based heuristic that scores every candidate point for the open twos, threes and fours it creates or blocks. It always completes its own five when it can and blocks your immediate five. Easy plays loosely and can be beaten, Medium defends soundly, and Hard looks a move deeper and rarely misses a fork.