Play Go Online — Free, in Your Browser
You can play Go online here for free, against the computer or against a friend, right in the browser you're reading this in. No account, nothing to download. Pick a board size, place a stone, and the game is on. It runs on a laptop, tablet, or phone, and your single-player game saves to your own device as you go, so you can close the tab and pick it back up later.
Go is a game for two players, and one of the oldest still played anywhere. It started in China over 3,000 years ago, which is why you'll also see it called Weiqi there, Baduk in Korea, and Igo in Japan. The idea is easy to state: you and your opponent take turns placing black and white stones on the crossing points of a grid, each trying to wall off more of the board than the other. Working out where to put them is the part that takes a while, and it's the reason people stay with the game for years.
Never played? The interactive tutorial teaches the rules on a real board in about ten minutes, or read the rules of Go if you'd sooner take them in as text.
How to start playing
- Pick a board size. 9x9 is the quickest to learn on, and it's the default.
- Choose how hard the computer plays: Easy, Medium, or Hard. Switch it any time.
- Place a stone on any empty crossing point, then wait for the reply.
- Keep going until neither side has a move worth making, then confirm the score.
Stuck on any of that? How to play Go, your first game step by step walks through a whole game from the opening move to the final count.
Want a person on the other side instead? Switch to the Online tab toplay a friend online: start a game, send the link, and whoever opens it takes the other colour. No one around right now? Quick match drops you in with another player looking for a game.
How the game works
You play Go by surrounding empty points, which count as your territory, and by capturing your opponent's stones. A stone or group is captured when you fill the last of its liberties, the empty points touching it. When both players pass, you add up territory plus captures, and the higher score wins.
A couple of rules shape everything on top of that. You can't play a stone that would leave your own group with no liberties, and the ko rule stops you from instantly recapturing to repeat the same position over and over. Games here use area scoring, the Chinese method, with 7.5 komi added to White's total to make up for Black going first. Every one of those terms has a short entry in the glossary, and thelearn section works through them with board diagrams.
Frequently asked questions
Is it free?
Yes. Every board size, against the computer and online, with no paywall and no cap on how many games you play.
Do I need an account?
No sign-up, no login. Your game in progress and your settings live in your own browser, not on a server, so there's nothing to register for.
Is Go the same as Baduk and Weiqi?
Same game. Weiqi is the Chinese name, Baduk the Korean one, and Igo the Japanese one. Wherever it's played, the rules on this site are the same.
What board size should I start with?
9x9. You can finish one in 20 to 30 minutes and take in the whole board at a glance, which makes it much easier to see why a move worked or didn't. See 9x9 vs 13x13 vs 19x19 for the full comparison.
How strong is the computer opponent?
Three settings. Easy and Medium are quick and beginner-friendly. Hard runs a Monte-Carlo search engine, the same kind of technique behind modern Go bots, right in your browser, and it thinks for a few seconds before each move, so it's a real step up.
Can I play against another person?
Yes. Open the Online tab, then either share a link that drops a friend straight into a game with you, or take a quick match against another player looking for one. No account on either side. See play a friend online for the details.
Can I play with a handicap or see my rank?
Not for now. There are no ranks, ratings, or handicap stones. You pick a board, pick a colour, and play. For an easier game against the computer, drop the difficulty instead.
How do I learn the rules?
The rules of Go, explained simply covers everything in about ten minutes, with diagrams for the parts easier to see than to read about. Prefer learning by doing? The interactive tutorial teaches the same rules move by move. The full learn section goes further, into scoring and beginner strategy.