Gomoku / Renju

This ROM cartridge game provides a strategically faithful reproduction of the centuries-old game, Gomoku, and its newer variant, Renju. The colors of the board and pieces are not traditional, and the interface is simple, but the cartridge stores 78 variations of the traditional "book openings", including sequences well past the first few moves of the game. Further, it can selectively adhere to the complex strictures of Renju, prohibiting 24 opening moves and certain winning patterns any time during the game.

The object of both games is to place five of your pieces in a row on a square, 15x15 board, with each player taking turns. In this implementation, the board can be reduced as small as 9x9. When playing against the computer, you can choose from eight levels of difficulty, move first or second (which defines your play in both games), switch sides, get a hint, take back any number of moves, review an entire game step-by-step, and watch the computer "think" or even play itself. Play against another human is possible, too, but the opening-move restrictions of Renju are left to you to enforce.