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Now lets see how and when blocks are taken off the board.
After you have placed a stone on the board there are two things to do. First examine the board for any of your partner's blocks that are not next to any empty points. If you find any, you must take every stone of that block off the board. Then examine the board again for any of your own blocks that are still not next to any empty points. Again, if you find any you must take every stone of that block off the board.
Stones removed from the board are said to have been taken. Black keeps the white ones, and white keeps the black ones.
Suppose White plays on the point marked with a star in the fifth diagram above. Now the block is not next to any empty points. So White must remove these stones from the board. White’s move takes these five stones, and White gets these five.
The first diagram shows the move described above, but before any stones have been removed. The second shows the board after the taken stones have been removed. White’s move is not taken because after white has removed the block, the block is then next to three empty points (although just one would be enough).
The third diagram shows the board position after Black has played , but before any stones have been removed. In the fourth, the taken stones have been removed.
Playing moves that capture your own pieces is not a good idea.
Blocks that are next to only one empty point are called vulnerable.
The game ends as soon as a player takes some of their partner's stones, or notices that
some of their partners stones may be taken.
Toast!
Circles
A circle is a series of moves that go around, returning to where they started. If they were allowed, it would make the game boring, so they aren’t!
On the right is a circle. Can you see how it could go on and on? To stop people from playing round and round like this, move is against the rules (and so are the next two). That’s because they return the board position to one that happened earlier.