NAME

       gomoku — game of 5 in a row

SYNOPSIS

       gomoku [-bcdu] [-D debugfile] [inputfile]

DESCRIPTION

       gomoku  is a two player game where the object is to get 5 in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally
       on a 19 by 19 grid.  By convention, black always moves first.  With no arguments, gomoku will  display  a
       playing  board  and prompt for moves from the user.  Valid moves are a letter for the column and a number
       for the row of an empty board location.  Entering ``quit" or ``resign" will end the game.  You  can  save
       the  current state of the game by entering ``save" and supplying a file name when prompted.  The optional
       file inputfile can be used to restore a saved game.

       The options are:

       -b      This option sets background mode.  Input moves are read from standard input, the computer picks a
               move, and prints it to standard output.  The first  input  line  should  be  either  ``black"  or
               ``white"  to  specify  whether  gomoku  has  the first move or not respectively.  This option was
               intended for game tournaments where a referee program handles the  board  display  and  pits  one
               program against another.

       -c      Computer  versus  computer.   gomoku  will  play  a game against itself.  This is mostly used for
               testing.

       -d      Print debugging  information.   Repeating  this  option  more  than  once  yields  more  detailed
               information.

       -D debugfile
               Print the debug information to debugfile instead of to the standard output.

       -u      User versus user.  This is mostly used for testing.

AUTHOR

       Ralph Campbell

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       The board display routines were based on the goref program written by Peter Langston.

Debian                                           August 4, 1994                                        GOMOKU(6)