A new Gomoku puzzle every day

What is Gomoku?

Gomoku is a board game for two players, one with black stones and one with white. You take turns putting a stone on an empty point, usually on a board of 15 by 15 lines. The first to get five in a row, across, down or diagonally, wins. Black goes first.

The game comes from Japan, where people have played it with Go stones on a Go board since the late 1800s. The name means roughly “five stones”. It is also called five in a row, gobang or caro. You can learn the rules in a minute, but winning takes some planning ahead. Most games are decided when one player makes two threats with one move and the other can only block one of them.

The rules

A new puzzle comes out at midnight, your time. Everyone gets the same puzzle on the same date, and they are numbered from #1.

Every puzzle is a forced win. Each of your moves except the last makes four in a row, so the other side has to block, and the last one makes five. They get longer through the week: two moves Monday to Wednesday, up to five on Sunday. A wrong move costs a heart, and after three you’re done for the day.

When you finish you get a line of emoji to share: a stone for each right move, a cross for each miss, then your hearts and your time. The moves themselves aren’t in it, so nobody gets spoiled.