Five in a Row (Gomoku) online, with a friend

Tic-Tac-Toe, grown up

Five in a Row is what happens when Tic-Tac-Toe gets a bigger sheet of paper. The rules take ten seconds: take turns, put your mark in an empty square, and the first to line up five in a row, across, down or diagonally, wins. The board is so big that nobody can block everything, so the game becomes a race of attacks and threats. It is known as Gomoku in Japan, Cờ Caro in Vietnam, Omok in Korea and Gobang in China, and it is played on squared paper in schools all over Europe.

On BeatMe you start a game, place your first mark and send the link. Your friend taps it, accepts with their name and plays in the browser. You do not have to be online at the same time: BeatMe keeps the board until someone wins. If you are both online, every mark appears live on both screens.

Five in a Row strategy: how to win more often

• Play in the middle. Marks near the centre take part in many more possible lines than marks near the edge.
• An open four wins. Four in a row with both ends free cannot be stopped: your opponent can block one end, you play the other.
• Watch open threes. Three in a row with both ends free becomes an open four on the next move. Block it as soon as you see it, at one of its ends.
• Make two threats at once. A move that builds two open threes, or a four and an open three, usually decides the game, because your opponent can only answer one of them.
• Attack while you defend. The best block also builds one of your own lines.

Free or Blocked: which rule to play?

Free is the classic rule: five or more in a row wins, whatever is around it. Blocked is the rule most players in Vietnam use, called chặn hai đầu: a row of five that your opponent has already closed off with their marks at both ends does not count, so you have to win with a line that is still open on at least one side. The edge of the board never counts as a block. Blocked games last a little longer and reward clean attacks.