Capture Go

How to play

A gateway to Go, played on a 9×9 board with the "first capture wins" rule. Stones need liberties — empty points beside them — to live; surround an AI group on all sides and it is lifted from the board. Pure surrounding, no scoring to learn.

Rules

  • Tap an empty point to place a stone there.
  • A stone (or a joined group) lives only while it has at least one liberty — an empty point directly beside it.
  • Surround an enemy group on every side to capture it and remove it from the board.
  • The very first capture, by either side, wins the game immediately.

Tips

A stone with only one liberty left is "in atari" — one move from capture. Put white in atari to threaten a capture, but never let a group of yours drop to a single liberty, or the AI takes it and wins. Corners and edges have fewer liberties, so they're easier to capture.