# Pente Live — Pente variants and Go

> Online Pente and Gomoku board game with variants, AI, and tournaments. (iPhone/iPad app by Walied Othman.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pente-live/id595426592 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Walied Othman](https://appshunter.io/developer/595426595)
- Category: Games, Board, Strategy
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.30/5 from 337 App Store ratings · 44 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 13.0 · 8 MB
- Languages: American English, Chinese (Simplified, China)
- Released: 2013-01-29
- Data updated: 2026-08-31
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pente-live/id595426592/reviews.md

## What is Pente Live?

Pente is a board game that is easy to learn, difficult to master. Compete with players all over the world on a 19x19 board. There is 
- turn-based play,
- realtime (live) play,
- play against 2 different computer players,
- participate in tournaments,
- play King of the Hill and earn a crown,
- search the game database by position for the most popular or best move!

Gomoku: To win, place 5 (not more) of your stones in a straight continuous line (either horizontally, vertically or diagonally).

Pente is like Gomoku but you can win by getting more than 5 in a row.
In Pente you can capture stones by enclosing a pair of your opponent's stones. For example, if the stones are like this XOO and you place your stone so it becomes XOOX, then your opponents' stones are removed from the board, leaving X__X. You can also win at Pente by capturing 10 or more of your opponents stones. You can't play into a capture. 
Rated games have a "Tournament Rule". It restricts player 1's second move so that player 1's second move must be at least 3 intersections away from the center of the board.

Keryo-Pente is like Pente but you can also capture 3 stones in a row.

G-Pente restricts player 1's second move, like the tournament rule. It additionally prohibits playing on the 4th and 5th intersections away from the center of the board that are one the same horizontal or vertical line as player 1's first move. (These are the most common 2nd moves for white).

D-Pente: Player 1 places 2 white and 2 black stones as a first move. Then player 2 decides to play as player 2, or decides to swap seats and take over as player 1! Afterwards, play continues like regular Pente.

Poof-Pente: The main difference is that you can play into a capture! (e.g., from XO_X player plays XOOX) then the stones are "poofed" (removed from the board and counted as captures). Normal captures are still allowed and the number of captures to win remains at 10 stones. Up to 5 stones could be poofed in one move! Also note that my current implementation performs the following actions in sequence after a move:
    Check if move captured any opponents stones, if so remove stones from the board.
    Check if move creates a poof position, if so remove stones from the board.
    Check if player has a 5-in-a-row, if so the player wins.
A player could capture and be poofed in the same move and the capture count could end up as 10-10. The game keeps going until one player has an advantage (i.e., gets more captured stones or gets five-in-a-row). There are no draws.

Boat-Pente differs in the end game. Once a Pente is made (5 stones in a row), the game continues as long as the opponent is able to capture across the Pente! Capturing 5 pairs is still a win like in Pente and the tournament rule is used for rated games.

Connect6: The goal is to be the first player to get 6 pieces in a row, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Player one plays one stone at the center of the board. After that each player gets to place two stones on the board at a time.

DK-Pente is D-Pente with Keryo-Pente rules.

O-Pente combines Keryo, Poof, and Boat Pente

Go is also available on 3 different board sizes: 19x19, 13x13, and 9x9.

Swap2-Pente is Pente with Swap2 rules.

Swap2-Keryo is Keryo-Pente with Swap2 rules.

------
This app offers a 1 year auto-renewable subscription for $4.99 USD/year. Payment will be charged to your iTunes account, and your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase. Prices may vary in countries other than the U.S. and are subject to change without notice. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during the active subscription period. If you don’t choose to purchase a subscription you can simply continue playing for free.

The privacy policy and TOS can be found at https://pente.org/help/helpWindow.jsp?file=privacyPolicy

## Key features

- Turn-based and real-time online play
- Play against computer opponents
- Participate in tournaments
- King of the Hill mode
- Game database search
- Multiple Pente and Gomoku variants

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pente.org subscription | $4.99 | per year |


## What do users think of Pente Live?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 👍 Great Pente app
- 👍 Good community
- 👍 Play local or online
- 👍 Excellent platform
- 👍 Many variants available
- 👍 AI is incredible
- 👍 Great game
- 👍 User friendly
- 👍 Classic game done well
- 👍 Formidable AI opponent
- 👍 Good challenge with computer
- 👍 Play on Pente.org
- 👍 Many opponents online
- 👍 Great way to study
- 👍 Amazing features
- 👍 Great community of players

**Cons**

- 🐛 Grid too small for fingers
- 🐛 Game play is arbitrary
- 🐛 No learning curve
- 🐛 Distracting ads
- 🐛 Difficult to read
- 🐛 Awkward user interface
- 🐛 AI board acts very fast
- 🐛 AI games are too hard
- 🐛 UI can be developed more
- 🐛 Not landscape mode on iPad
- 🐛 AI is too fast
- 🐛 AI seems to cheat
- 🐛 UI is poorly designed
- 🐛 Can't rotate game board
- 🐛 AI is slow
- 🐛 Unusable interface
- 🐛 Menu is ridiculous
- 🐛 Signup registration required
- 🐛 No 2 player abilities
- 🐛 App quits when starting game
- 🐛 App is unusable
- 🐛 Game froze
- 🐛 Misplace piece easily
- 🐛 Tap-to-zoom blocks view
- 🐛 No 'finish move' button
- 🐛 AI moves are immediate
- 🐛 AI piece randomly not showing
- 🐛 Crashes after every game
- 🐛 Too easy to make mistakes
- 🐛 Cant play AI locally offline
- 🐛 Account creation needed for offline AI

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Drops stone in wrong spot
- Move ends up in different position
- Changes last location
- Freezes
- Bumps out of a game
- App down
- Screen frozen
- App freezes
- App keeps crashing intermittently
- Crashes after every game
- App quits every time to start a game
- Game froze

**Most requested features**

- Replay button
- Landscape mode on iPad
- Slower AI response time
- Improved UI
- Take back move option
- Pinch to zoom and separate 'finish move' button
- Dark mode
- Option to disable ads
- Sign in with AppleID or Google

## Recent user reviews (10 of 44)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pente-live/id595426592/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Love Pente

*2026-07-17, version 2.11.7*

Love this site. 
Great job

### 5/5 — Great app and community!

*2026-05-27*

Super clean app for playing turn based and live pente! Great community too

### 5/5 — Perfextikn

*2025-08-12, version 2.9.6*

beautiful

### 5/5 — Greatness

*2025-07-09*

Try it. You’ll love it.

### 1/5 — Grid is too small for my fingers.

*2024-11-12*

Even with the expanded view, it frequently drops the stone in the wrong spot

**Developer response:** But you can always re-place the stone before you submit

### 1/5 — Game play is arbitrary

*2024-06-30*

This is, from what I’ve seen, the only Pente game play that includes single player (i.e., against the “computer”), which is exceedingly hard, even at level 1, my criticism is of the actual game play. Too many times have I lost a game because what I thought was my move actually ended up in a different position. I will not say that my subsequent move would have won the game, but I can definitely say that the computer’s move won the game more than a few times!

**Developer response:** If this is against the onboard ai, just swipe twice left on the board (undo the computer move and then yours) and place another

### 2/5 — Frustrating gameplay

*2024-03-02, version 2.9.3*

Can we have a replay button juste to see what we did wrong or what we miss?

### 1/5 — No learning curve

*2023-09-19*

Title says it all. This game is rather pointless unless you have been playing for literal freaking decades and know literally every possible outcome of a game.

### 5/5 — Great Pente App !!

*2023-03-05, version 2.6.24*

I love this app. You can play Pente (and many variants) local or online. Get it and start having fun and getting better. Let's keep Pente's spirit alive !

### 2/5 — Game good, app bad

*2022-12-26, version 2.6.24*

The game Pente is amazing! Unfortunately, the app is littered with distracting ads, difficult to read, requires an unnecessary account signup process (why can’t I Sign in with AppleID or google?) and has an awkward user interface.

## Frequently asked questions about Pente Live

### What is Pente Live?

Pente Live is a mobile application that allows users to play Pente and Gomoku, two strategic board games, against other players worldwide or against computer opponents. It offers various game modes, including turn-based and real-time play, tournaments, and unique Pente variants.

### What are the main game modes available?

The app features turn-based and real-time (live) play, allowing you to compete with players globally. You can also play against two different computer players, participate in tournaments, and try the King of the Hill mode. Additionally, it includes a game database to search for the best moves by position.

### How do I win in Pente?

In Pente, you can win by placing five or more of your stones in a straight continuous line (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally). You can also win by capturing 10 or more of your opponent's stones. Some variants have additional winning conditions or restrictions.

### Are there different versions of Pente offered?

Yes, the app includes several Pente variants such as Gomoku (place 5 in a row), Keryo-Pente (capture 3 in a row), G-Pente (restricted second move), D-Pente (player 1 places initial stones), Poof-Pente (play into a capture), and Boat-Pente (game continues after a Pente is made if opponent can capture).

### Is Pente Live free to play?

The application is free to download and play, but it does offer in-app purchases. These purchases may enhance the user experience or provide additional features, though the core gameplay is accessible without them.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.11.9 — 2026-08-14

sounds for swaps

### 2.11.8 — 2026-07-17

support for draws in renju

### 2.11.7 — 2026-07-10

even more c6 AI improvements

### 2.11.6 — 2026-07-08

improved c6 AI

### 2.11.5 — 2026-07-07

- more AI variations

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-31.*