Custodianship Gonu

At least eight different opening positions on four different boards are used to play Custodianship Gonu.

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

Gonu games, by nature are very fluid in their premise and initial setup, not to mention their rules. Square grid boards of 3x3, 3x4, 5x5, or 7x7 cells are some of the common ones used for custodianship varieties of Gonu. Different sized boards also utilize different numbers of counters to open with. Usually, the number of counters used per player equals the number of intersections along the player's home row. For example, a 7x7 square grid would utilize eight each of black and white counters per player whereas a 3x3 grid would utilize four each.

History

There are many Gonu games, which are traditional board games originating from Korea. They are typically played on a makeshift board drawn in the dirt, sand or stone with distinguishable stones used for counters. The fact that the boards are drawn probably adds to their fluidity and there are numerous variations of Gonu games. Typically, they are simple children’s games. They may be blockading games, or they may utilize jumping capture, capture by custodianship, or some combination of blockading and capture.

Objective

Play

Strategy

Variations

Ladder Gonu 1

Ladder Gonu 2

Jewel Gonu is played as both a jump and capture game and as a custodianship capture game.

Net Gonu 1

Net Gonu 2

Sources