Rules of Pente

The Goal

• The goal of Pente is to place five stones of your color in a continuous sequence, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The stones must have no spaces between them, and no stones of the opponent's color can fall between them. Additionally, a player will win if he captures five groups of his opponent's stones.

Game Play

• Begin by starting with a clean board, free of any stones. The player in possession of the black stones begins the game by placing a stone on the center point of the board. Stones in the game are placed on cross sections of the board and not within the spaces themselves. After the initial stone is placed, players alternate between placing their stones on any empty cross section within the game board, which can include the very edge of the board. A placed stone cannot be removed unless it has been captured by an opponent.

Capture

• Capturing takes place when one player has two stones placed side by side without any other stones surrounding the pair. If the other player is able to place one stone of his color on each side of the opponent's pair, he will capture the stones and remove them from the board. Stones can be captured when they are placed vertically, horizontally and diagonally. In addition, a player can create a combination of captures with the right placement, removing multiple pairs of stones during one turn.

Victory

• Play continues until one player has captured five pairs of his opponent's stones or placed five of his own stones in a row. When placing a stone to create a sequence of three or four, a player should call out the number of stones within the row, making his opponent aware that a victory is imminent. The purpose of this is to corner a player into blocking another move, preventing him from finishing his own rows. Upon victory, the board is cleared and the game begins again, with a black stone being placed first.