The goal

Surround more territory than your opponent. Black and White take turns placing stones on the line intersections — stones never move once played.

Your turn

Tap an intersection to preview your stone, then tap Place stone to confirm. You can plan while your opponent is thinking.

Capturing

A stone or connected group is captured — removed from the board — when the enemy fills its last liberty (the empty points touching it). Watch your own groups' liberties!

Two rules

No suicide: you can't place a stone where it would have zero liberties, unless the move captures first. Ko: you can't repeat a previous board position — play elsewhere first, then you may retake.

Ending the game

When neither player sees a useful move left, both Pass in a row. Then you mark dead stones together: tap any group that couldn't survive, and once the score looks right, both players tap Accept. Disagree? Just resume play and settle it on the board.

Scoring

Area scoring (Chinese rules): your score is your stones on the board plus the empty points only your colour surrounds. White gets +7.5 komi for going second, so games can't tie.

Board sizes

9×9 is fast and beginner-friendly (10–20 min), 13×13 is a nice middle ground, and 19×19 is the full classic game.

Timers & fair play

If you chose a time limit, running out of clock loses the game. Going quiet for more than 5 minutes counts as a forfeit.

vPTC wagers

You start with 1,000 vPTC — just-for-fun points with no monetary value. In wagered games the winner takes the stake. Win games to climb the 🏆 Most-wins leaderboard!

Practice

🎯 Practice Solo lets you play both colours yourself — no timer, no wager, nothing recorded. Perfect for learning how captures work.