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How to Play Five in a Row

If you've played Tic-Tac-Toe or Connect Four, you'll recognize the game mechanic behind Five in a Row. The objective is to be the first player to line five of your pieces in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row. Unlike Tic-Tac-Toe or Connect Four, however, the game board is considerably larger, leading to a more free-form style of play. The game originates in Asia and is traditionally played on a Go board, which is itself a Japanese game; however, it can easily be enjoyed on paper instead.

Things You'll Need

Go board
Graph paper

Instructions

- 1
  Assign the black pieces to one player and the white pieces to the other. If you're using pen and paper, decide who is Xs and who is Os. White chips and Os go first.
- 2
  Place a Go chip on one of the board's many intersections. If you're playing on grid paper, mark one of the intersections with your symbol, X or O.
- 3
  Continue to place chips and draw symbols until one of the two players has made a row of five pieces. That player wins the game. Start a new game on a fresh sheet of graph paper or by clearing the pieces off the board.

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