How to Play Pente

Pente is a five-in-a-row game that became popular in the early 1970s. Its simple rules hide a surprising depth of tactical play. The tactics involve capturing the other player's stones and managing to get your stones in a row. Follow these steps to learn how to play Pente.

Things You'll Need

• Grid
• Colored stones

Instructions

1. Play the game on the intersections of the lines between the squares. You play on a grid of almost any size. A go board works best, but a checkerboard also works.

2. Take one color of stones, while your opponent takes the other color. Play the first stone on the center intersection of the board then alternate colors, always playing a stone on the intersection of the lines between the squares.

3. Reduce the advantage of the player who plays first by adding a rule. The first player's second stone must be played no closer than 3 spaces from the first stone.

4. Capture stones belonging to your opponent by enclosing exactly 2 opposing stones between 2 of your own in any direction, horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Remove captured stones immediately.

5. Win the game in two ways. One method is by making an unbroken line of 5 stones in any direction such as vertical, horizontal or diagonal. The other method consists of capturing 5 pairs of your opponent's stones.

Tips & Warnings

• Placing a stone adjacent to one of your stones and between 2 of your opponent's stones doesn't result in a capture. Captures only occur when players enclose 2 of the opponent's stones between 2 of theirs. One of which must be the stone that has just been played.

• An easy way to handicap Pente for players of unequal ability is to allow the weaker player to win by capturing fewer stones. For example, have the younger player capture 6 and the more experienced player capture 10.

Resources

• A Pente website