Gonu
한국어Gonu is a family of traditional Korean board games, once played on boards drawn on the ground. Here the rules are exactly as written in the Korean sources. Five boards are up now: Umul Gonu, Neojul Gonu, Hobak Gonu, Cham Gonu and Jadongcha Gonu. More will follow as we secure written sources.
Who moves first? Two players take turns on one device.
Rules (as written in the source)
- Each side plays with two pieces.
- No piece may move along the line that runs through the well.
- On the very first move only, the piece beside the well may not step into the center.
- Whichever side is cornered loses.
The source is the entry "Gonu" in the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. The original entry's board drawing does not come through in the text, so we drew the widely used shape of five points and seven lines. That is our reading, and we say so.
Where records are kept
The local boards (the five games on this page) leave no record anywhere. The game runs only on your screen, and neither the moves nor the result are sent to a server. Only remote matches store their moves on the server, so they can reach your opponent (deleted 30 days after the game ends).