Connect6
Six in a row on 19×19, two stones a turn. Balanced by design.
19×19 · six in a row · two stones a turn · play a person instead
How to play Connect6
- Black opens with a single stone. After that, each turn is two stones.
- Six of your stones in an unbroken row wins, in any direction.
- Stones are placed on any empty intersections — the two need not be near each other.
- The board is 19×19, and a game filling it with no six in a row is a draw.
Invented in 2003 by Professor I-Chen Wu at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, to fix Gomoku's first-player advantage. Black places one stone to start, then both sides place two per turn — so whoever moves has exactly one stone more on the board than the other, always.
How to get better
One threat is never enough
Your opponent answers with two stones. A single four gets blocked with one of them and they still have one to build with.
Play the pair together
Think of your turn as one move made of two stones. The pair that creates three separate threats wins; two stones in the same line usually just gets blocked.
Spread out early
On a 19×19 board, stones far apart still work together later. Crowding one corner gives the opponent the whole rest of the board.
Block the useful end
When you must defend, put the stone where it does the most for you as well. You only have two, and you will need them.
Why two stones per turn?
It balances the game. In Gomoku the first player has a decisive edge; in Connect6 the player to move is always exactly one stone ahead, which removes it.
Does Black really only place one stone first?
Yes — that first single stone is the whole balancing mechanism. Every turn after it, for both players, is two stones.
The other games
Connect 4
Drop a disc, claim a column, line up four before they do.
Gomoku
Five in a row on a 15×15 grid. Simple to learn, ruthless to master.
Pente
Five in a row — or take five pairs off the board and win that way.
Hex
Join your two sides of the board. No lines, no captures, no draws.
Dots & Boxes
Draw a line, close a box, go again. Everything is decided in the endgame.