Pentago is a two-player abstract strategy game invented by Tomas Flodén. The Swedish company Mindtwister has the rights of developing and commercializing the product.
The game is played on a 6×6 board divided into four 3×3 sub-boards (or quadrants). Taking turns, the two players place a marble of their color (either black or white) onto an unoccupied space on the board, and then rotate one of the sub-boards by 90 degrees either clockwise or counter-clockwise. A player wins by getting five of their marbles in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row (either before or after the sub-board rotation in their move). If all 36 spaces on the board are occupied without a row of five being formed then the game is a draw.
There is also a 3-4 player version called Pentago XL. The board is made of 9 3x3 boards, and there are 4 colours (red, yellow, green and blue) instead of the basic 2.
Pentago Rules
The game starts with an empty game board. The game board consists of the four separate boards. The starting player places a marble in a socket if his or her choice. After placing a marble the player turns any one of the four boards one notch (90 degrees) clock - or counter clockwise. A board, not necessarily the one on whitch the marble been placed, must be turned each move.
Then the second player does the same, i.e. places a marble and turns a board. So on and so forth.
The first player to get five marbles in a row wins!
The row can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal and run over two or three boards. If a player gets five in a row when placing a marble he or she does not need to turn a board. If all the sockets have been filled without any player getting five in a row the game is draw. If both players get the five in a row as a player turns a board the game is also a draw.
Here you can test Pentago game on-line.