Ninuki Renju

This is a variant of Gomoku (or rather, Renju) that was invented in the early 1920s by Katsuyiko Kubomatsu, a professional Go player. It is based on a traditional variant known as Chosen Gomoku, though it is not clear whether it actually hails from Korea. From 1923 to 1940, a society dedicated to it existed in Japan, the Ninuki Renju Sha. Later on it was more or less forgotten.

Pente

Ninuki Renju was revived a Parker Brothers board game, Pente, created in 1977 by Gary Gabrel, produced until 1993, and then again from 2004 on by Winning Moves. This game has somewhat simplified rules, and it was the direct inspiration of the few computer implementations that exist.

Somehow, Pente is a rather weird game. It's basically Gomoku, but with a twist: You can capture stones similar to Othello, but only pairs. That is, if you enclose exactly two enemy stones with yours, you can take them. Not a single stone, and not a longer row. You can win by either getting five in a row, or by capturing five pairs. This gets pretty confusing, especially if you have played Gomoku a lot, since you have to alter your strategy significantly.

Pente Implementations
Pente	Quinta