Gomoku is a two-player abstract strategy game played on a 15×15 grid of 225 intersections where the goal is to place stones of your color and form a contiguous line of five or more horizontally, vertically, or diagonally before your opponent does. Black always moves first, then players alternate placing exactly one stone per turn on any empty intersection. A stone, once placed, is never moved or removed during the round except by Restart, which clears the entire board. The game ends the instant one player completes a qualifying line, and if all 225 intersections are filled without either color forming five in a row, the result is a draw. These are the same rules used in the public Gomoku references that describe the standard board, the Black-first opening, and the four winning axes. This version of Gomoku on Lizely follows freestyle rules, so an overline of six or more contiguous stones also counts as a winning line; it does not apply the Renju opening restrictions or forbidden-move rules used in some tournament play. Everything below walks through the exact board, controls, win detection, and draw behavior you will encounter when you open the Gomoku tool.
The Game and the Board
The name Gomoku literally means "five pieces" in Japanese, and the entire game is built around getting five of your stones in a continuous line. The standard board used here is a 15×15 grid of intersections, the same size most public Gomoku references describe as the default. That grid contains 225 intersections in total, and each intersection can hold at most one stone for the entire round. The board is rendered as semantic DOM buttons rather than a single canvas image, which keeps every intersection directly interactive and allows browser focus indication.
You do not need an account, an opponent online, or any special hardware. The two players share the same device and take turns placing Black and White stones. There is no chat, no matchmaking, and no network connection involved; everything runs in the browser and stays on that device. Stones use the site's standard black and white styling, and the page does not require audio, a camera, a microphone, or touch gestures to function. The cursor for keyboard play starts on the center intersection, and the move counter starts at zero with Black listed as the active player.
Core Rules: Turns, Placement, and Winning Lines
Three short rules govern the entire game:
- Black places the first stone. After that, Black and White alternate turns, with each player placing exactly one stone per turn.
- Every stone must go on an empty intersection. You cannot place a stone on top of an existing stone, and you cannot skip a turn. If you try to place on an occupied intersection, the board does not change and the turn does not advance.
- The game ends when one player completes a contiguous line of five or more stones. The four winning axes are horizontal, vertical, the descending diagonal (top-left to bottom-right), and the ascending diagonal (bottom-left to top-right). Once a winning line exists, the round freezes immediately and the final board is preserved.
Under freestyle rules, an overline of six, seven, or even more contiguous stones still counts as a win. This page does not apply Renju's opening restrictions or forbidden-move rules. According to the public reference at Gomoku.net's how-to-play guide, the standard board, the Black-first opening, and the four winning directions are the historical defaults for casual play. If you and your opponent plan to play a tournament variant, agree on the ruleset in advance and consult that event's current rulebook, because board size, opening procedure, overline treatment, and forbidden moves can differ between Gomoku variants.
How to Play Gomoku on the Browser Board
The full sequence for a single round is short and works the same whether you prefer the keyboard or the mouse:
- Open the Gomoku board and confirm the cursor sits on the center intersection with Black listed as the active player.
- Use the arrow keys to move the highlighted cursor one cell at a time in any direction. The cursor clamps at the edges of the board, so it cannot leave the 15×15 grid.
- When the cursor sits on an empty intersection, press Space or Enter to drop Black's first stone, the move counter increments by one, and the active color flips to White.
- Pass the device to White. White uses the arrow keys to move the cursor and presses Space or Enter to place a White stone on any empty intersection, then Black plays again.
- Continue alternating. Each turn places exactly one stone of the current player's color on an empty intersection, and the visible turn label always tells you whose turn is next.
- The first player to complete a contiguous line of five or more stones in any of the four winning directions ends the round. The board freezes on the winning position and the winner is announced.
- If all 225 intersections become occupied without a five-in-a-row line, the game declares a draw, freezes further input, and shows the draw message. Press Restart to clear the board and start a new round with Black moving first.
Keyboard, Mouse, and Touch Controls
The board supports both keyboard play and pointer play without changing the rules. Keyboard players move the highlighted cursor with the arrow keys, one intersection per press, and confirm a placement with Space or Enter. Movement stops at the board edge, so the cursor will not wrap around or leave the 15×15 area. Attempting to place on an already occupied intersection is a no-op: the board does not change and the turn does not advance, which means a missed click or stray key press cannot skip a player's turn.
Pointer users can click any empty intersection directly to move the cursor there, then use the visible Place Stone button to drop a stone. The visible turn label always shows which color is on the move, so you do not have to remember whose turn it is after a distraction. Because each intersection is its own interactive button, focus indicators remain visible during keyboard navigation, and the page works without audio, camera, microphone, or touch gestures. On narrow screens, the board stays contained inside its panel instead of stretching the page width.
How Wins and Draws Are Detected
Win detection runs on the newest stone, not on the whole board. After each legal placement, the game examines four axes that pass through the cell just played: horizontal, vertical, descending diagonal, and ascending diagonal. For each axis, it counts matching stones of the same color in both directions and adds the placed stone itself. If the total reaches five or more on any axis, the round ends immediately, the winner is announced, and further placement is frozen so the final board is preserved exactly as it was when the line was completed.
This newest-stone approach matters because only one cell changes per legal turn. Checking only the axes that run through the freshly placed stone avoids inventing a winner somewhere else on the board and matches the fact that the four directional counts are sufficient to find any qualifying line. Under freestyle rules, an overline of six or more is treated as a win on any of the four axes; if you want to know more about the overline rule, the guide on whether a line of six counts as a win in Gomoku walks through that question directly.
The draw rule is also well defined. The board has exactly 225 intersections, so after exactly 225 legal placements there are no empty cells left. If neither color has produced a five-in-a-row line by that point, the game declares a draw, freezes input, and shows the draw message. The game never silently resets a full board, never skips an occupied turn, and never continues to accept moves after a win or a draw.
Restart, Boss Key, and Local Best Score
Restart clears every one of the 225 cells, restores Black as the first player, returns the cursor to the center intersection, resets the move counter to zero, and removes the winner or draw message. It is the only way to clear stones during a round; there is no takeback, no undo, and no per-cell removal.
The Boss Key is built into the shared game controls. Press Escape twice quickly to swap the board for a neutral work-style screen, and press Escape twice again to bring the board back. The Boss Key is a convenience overlay, not a security feature: it does not close the page, does not clear your browser history, does not change the operating-system window title, and does not protect the board from anyone with access to the browser. Restart is the separate action that clears the active round.
The game also keeps a small local best result in your browser's site data, scored by the number of moves needed to win. A lower move count is better. That value is stored only in browser site data on your device; it is not a global ranking, not a proof of competitive skill, and not shared with any server. Clearing your browser's site data for the page will reset it.
Freestyle Rules and Other Variants
The version of Gomoku on Lizely is a local, same-device implementation of freestyle Gomoku, sometimes called "five or more in a row." In freestyle, the only thing that matters is the line: any contiguous run of five or more stones of the same color, on any of the four axes, wins. There are no opening restrictions, no double-three or double-four forbidden moves, and no distinction between open four and closed four. This is the simplest and most beginner-friendly rule set, and it matches what most public Gomoku references describe when they talk about casual play.
Tournament play, especially under Renju, is more restrictive. Renju forbids certain Black overlines, forbids Black from making certain double threats in the opening, and adds forbidden-move rules designed to balance the first-move advantage. The board used here does not apply any of those restrictions. If you want to practice Renju or another formal variant, consult the official rulebook for that event; board size (13×13, 15×15, or 19×19), opening procedure, overline treatment, and forbidden moves can all differ.
This version also deliberately stops at same-device play. There is no computer opponent, no hint engine, no move timers, no takebacks, no saved games, no opening library, no tournament adjudication, no Pente-style captures, and no online rating. If you are looking for any of those features, you will need a different tool, and the guide on whether you can play Gomoku against the computer or online explains exactly why this version skips them.
Rules at a Glance
The table below summarizes the rules and limits you will encounter on the board.
| Element | Rule |
|---|---|
| Board | 15 rows × 15 columns, 225 intersections |
| Players | Two, sharing one device, no account |
| Turn order | Black places first, then strict alternation |
| Placement | One stone per turn on any empty intersection |
| Winning lines | Five or more contiguous stones on any axis |
| Winning axes | Horizontal, vertical, descending diagonal, ascending diagonal |
| Overline | Counts as a win (freestyle rule) |
| Draw | All 225 intersections filled with no winning line |
| Restart | Clears board, resets Black first, cursor to center |
| Boss Key | Escape pressed twice quickly |
| Online play | Not supported |
| Renju rules | Not applied |
For any official competition, check that event's current rulebook before you start. Board size, opening rules, overline treatment, and forbidden-move lists vary between Gomoku variants and are not covered by this page.