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Capture Five Strategy and Tips

Here is how to think about winning at Capture Five, split into short lessons. Each one reads on its own, and each one comes with a real position: press Try it on the board and you play the move yourself.

Take a pair while you can

Lesson 1

In Capture Five, when two of your opponent's stones stand side by side, you capture both by closing the pair in with your own stones at each end. It works across, down and on either diagonal. By default on this site only a pair can be captured: three or more stones in a row cannot be taken, however you surround them.

Here a black stone already sits at the left end of White's horizontal pair. Play the right end and both stones come off the board at once. Extend your own diagonal instead and White simply adds a third stone on the right. Now it is a three, and there is no capture left.

An opponent's pair with your stone at one end and an empty point at the other is a capture waiting to happen. Taking it adds a pair to your count and removes their row at the same time. Before you press your own attack, get into the habit of scanning the board for this shape.

Turn a threatened pair into three

Lesson 2

Every capture you can make has a mirror image you can suffer. If exactly two of your stones stand in a row, with an enemy stone at one end and the other end empty, your opponent can take both on their next move. You lose the stones, and they gain a pair towards their five.

Here White sits above Black's vertical pair and the point below is empty. Build a three across the board instead and White plays below, takes the pair, and your three loses its right-hand stone as well. To defend, play the empty end and make it three in a row. By default on this site three stones in a row cannot be captured.

There are other defences — capturing first, or taking the point your opponent needs — but start with this one: extend to three. Also note that, by default, stepping into a gap between two enemy stones is safe. A stone is only captured when the opponent places the stone that closes the pair in.

Break a row by capturing

Lesson 3

In gomoku you answer an open three — three in a row with both ends free — by blocking an end. Capture Five gives you a second answer. If a stone in the three also forms a pair along another line, capture that pair. The row gets a hole in it and your count goes up by one pair.

White has an open three across the middle. Block the left end and White extends to the right to make a four, so you have to answer again; every block just lets White add stones. But the middle white stone also pairs up vertically with the stone below it, and Black already holds the top end. Play the bottom end, capture the pair, and the three is left as two stones with a gap between them.

Whenever you look at an opponent's row, check whether any of its stones are part of a pair in another direction. When you can either block or capture, capturing is often the better deal. And the same is true against you: a pair hidden inside your own row is where it will be broken.

The fifth capture wins like a five

Lesson 4

Capture Five has two ways to win: line up five, or capture five pairs (ten stones) of your opponent's. The count is shown on screen. Once you have four pairs, every enemy pair with your stone at one end is a winning move.

Black has already taken four pairs here. White has four in a row across the top, and one more stone at the right end makes five. Build your own three instead and White completes the five. But the white pair at the bottom right has a black stone on its left and an empty point on its right. Capture it: that is your fifth pair, and the game is yours before White can play again.

Blocking a four is the rule, but first ask whether you can win with this move. When you reach four pairs, search the whole board for enemy pairs. And when your opponent reaches four, do not leave any of your own pairs with an enemy stone at one end.

Leave a gap in the opening

Lesson 5

In gomoku it is natural to place your stones right next to each other. In Capture Five, two stones side by side become a capture threat as soon as your opponent covers one end, and that single move puts you on the defensive.

The useful alternative is to play one point away from your own stone. Two stones with a gap between them are not a pair, so they cannot be captured. Fill the gap later and you have three in a row, which by default on this site cannot be captured either.

Here, playing directly below your central stone makes a vertical pair, and White covers the top end to threaten it. The highlighted point instead makes two gapped shapes at once — one down from your central stone, one on the diagonal from your stone on the left. Neither can be captured, and each becomes a three when you fill the gap. Keep building like this around the centre in the opening.

Try it on the board

Pick a lesson and the board starts from that position. Start over as often as you like.

Now put it to work

Play with friendsLearn how to play (3 min)

Last updated 2026-09-23 · Run by Qdan, Inc.