Nedan följer på engelska reglerna för Pente och för några varianter av Pente. Längst ned nämns också reglerna för några fantasivarianter som man kan använda sig av för att koppla av en liten stund från det mer allvarliga spelandet.
The main rules of Pente
A. There are two ways to win the game:
1. Win by getting five-(or more)-in-a-row, either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, with no empty points between the stones, or
2. Win by capturing five (or more) pairs of your opponents stones.
B. Playing begins in the centre of the board and the same rule as d) above is used for the 3rd move.
C. Whenever your opponent has two stones (and only two) which are adjacent, those stones are vulnerable to capture. The pair can be captured by bracketing its two ends with your own stones.
D. A stone may legally be played onto any empty intersection, even if that point has been previously occupied, and even if forms a pair between two enemy stones. No capture is made by the enemy in that case.
E. Multiple captures are legal.
F. A Pente-board has 19 vertical and 19 horizontal lines like the Go-board.
G. White starts the game (which differs from Renju and Go).
Pente was introduced by Gary Gabrel from Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA in the end of the nineteen seventies and Pente became very popular in the USA in the first half of nineteen eighties and in the USA also World Championships were arranged, but as I know with participants only from USA. We also arranged for six years Swedish Championships. I won two times. I do not know about the popularity in USA by now. In Sweden we have a few players but very little or almost none serious competitions. Maybe we will arrange Swedish Championship again if there will be enough interested players. Among the best players of Pente in the USA there were discussions whether the rules of Pente are enough to get equal chances for White and Black. The World Champion Rollie Tash thought that White had a sure win and proposed a change of the rules. He proposed Keryo-Pente or taking up some of the rules of renju into pente.
Some books on Pente were written by Tom Braunlich, former World Champion. I also made a compendium on openings and about other literature on Pente in Swedish. In 1987 it was meant to found a World Association but of some reasons this association was never founded. I wrote the International Rules of Pente for this association. These rules were never adopted but the work of constructing them is done. If several people are interested I can publish them.
Rules of Keryo-Pente
Keryo Pente uses the same rules as regular Pente, except that
h. 3-in-a-row may also be captured in addition to regular pair captures
j. To win one must get either 5-in-a-row or capture 15 stones.
Ninuki-Renju
Pente is similar to a game that in Japan has the name "Ninuki-Renju" or "Chosen (Korean) Gomoku"(but as I have heard this game is not from Korea). This game has the same rules as Pente (except from the opening rule which probably has not been used). However in Ninuki-Renju some other additional rules are used. The game of Ninuki-Renju had its own organization Ninuki Renju Sha in Japan 1923-1940 but as far as we know by now this game has no association in Japan so the rules may differ from family to family. The additional rules of Ninuki-Renju are:
H. The first to form a "perfect 5" or capture five pairs is the winner.
I.Black starts as in Renju. If a five is made and after that White takes a capture and destroys the five there is no win. This is called an "unperfect 5". However the destroying of the unperfect five must be made with the move immediately following the five.
J. The first player (or sometimes both players) is not allowed to form a double-three, unless it is necessary to do so when destroying an "unperfect 5".
K. An "overline" (six or more stones in a row) does not win and remains neutral (the same rule as e above).
L. A rare case occurs when a fifth capture gives the opponent a five. This occurs when one stone is captured away from a 6-in-a-row, thus leaving 5. In this case, the game is draw.
Ninuki-Renju is mentioned at pages 50,78,85 in the before mentioned book "The Master of Go" by Yasunari Kawabata.
Funny variations
Sometimes you are not in the mood for playing a serious game. Then I know a lot of variations of the five-in-a-row games. I cannot write about all of them here but some variations I want to mention. None of the games have fixed rules. The rules are in the idea-phase where all consequences not are calculated. As a matter of fact regarding all the games mentioned in this article only renju has mature rules with one century´s experience. The first four games mentioned below I was introduced to by Nickolaj Alexandrov, Alexander Nosovsky and Sergey Zanchenko in Leningrad 1987. Usually rule 1-2 or pente is enough as a ground for the additional rules mentioned even if the game has the name renju within the name of the game.
Anti-renju
This game was introduced by Sergey Zanchenko from Moscow. In this game you can use only the rules 1-2 with the following additional rule: An open four, i.e. a four which is not stopped by the opponent in either end is forbidden. It means that a three is not so dangerous as usual. The first time you play you will find it difficult ever to win. It is possible also to play Anti-Pente i.e. forbidden open four in combination with usual Pente rules. If in Anti-Pente the fifth capture gives yourself an open four the game is draw.
Renju with a common center stone
In this game the center stone is black when it is black´s move and white when it is white´s move. Black starts the game in the center of the board.
Renju with atomic bomb
Once in a game each player has the right to drop an atomic bomb instead of a usual move. After dropping the bomb this bomb-stone is left on the board but all other black and white to the bomb adjacent stones diagonally, horizontally or vertically must be taken away from the board. Pente with atomic bomb is also possible to play.
Repensi
This game is a combination of renju, pente and reversi. Instead of capturing two stones these stones are changing colour as in reversi.
Neutral stone
This is a funny variation of pente. Each player has two neutral stones in a third colour. Each player has the right to use the neutral stone for a move instead of the ordinary stones for this player. The neutral stone is not possible to capture by neither black nor white. Combinations of the above mentioned funny games may be possible. I like best Anti-Renju Anti-Pente and Renju or Pente with atomic bomb seems interesting. As I said before there are a lot of more variations published and to find by yourself. However if you want to play seriously in a game with traditions where there are really strong players and where there are a lot of levels to reach before you can fully understand how the best players play renju is of course the only five-in-a-row game.