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[Game Help Contents]

Objective

Rules

• Game Play
  Play starts with Player 1 placing a stone in the center of the board. Thereafter, each player takes their turn by placing a stone in any open position on the board. Play continues until one player wins or the board is filled with stones.
  
  
• Capturing
  You can capture two of your opponent's stones by placing a stone next to them such that you have a stone on either side of the two, like so:
  
  
  Example of Black capturing two of White's stones
  Note that you can only capture on your turn, by placing a stone. You don't capture if your opponent places a stone in-between yours. For instance, if White places a stone like so:
  
  
  Example of White placing safely between Black's stones
  ...it's not a capture for Black because Black didn't place the stone to create the situation.
  
  You can capture more than once with the same move. In this example, Black is capturing four of White's stones by doing two captures simultaneously:
  
  
  Example of Black executing a dual capture
  (It may be possible (though rarely) to manage three or even more simultaneous captures, although it's extremely unlikely as it requires a very specific arrangement of stones.)
  
  
• Winning the Game
  There are two ways to win in Pente:
  • Get five or more stones in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally
  • Capture 10 (or more) of the other player's stones
  (Note the difference from Gomoku, where there are no captures and where you must get exactly five in a row.) In each case, the player wins immediately; there is no final turn for the losing player.
  
  
• Terminology
  There are two quite powerful formations in Pente:
  • Tria - A tria is three stones of the same color in a row with no stones on either end. A tria is powerful because it can become a tessera on the next turn, if it isn't blocked.
  • Tessera - A tessera is four stones of the same color in a row with no stones on either end. If you have a tessera, your opponent cannot block it and unless they can capture one of the stones of the tessera on their turn, you'll win on your next move by placing the fifth stone on one end or the other.
  (In some clubs, it's customary to announce it to your opponent when you create either of these formations; the idea being that you want to win because you have out-maneuvered your opponent, not because they just messed up and didn't see the formation. However, this is not in any way obligatory and many clubs play without this piece of etiquette. You'll find most Pocket-Monkey players, like most Pente players everywhere, are unaware of this custom and don't announce their formations. Players should not expect that thir opponents will announce formations, nor take offense.)