The Cardboard Shelf
← Print & Play

Go (Baduk / Weiqi) — Printable Board

The ancient game of territory. Print a 9×9, 13×13, or 19×19 board and capture space with black and white stones. 9×9 is perfect for learning.

What you need
  • The printed board below (stones go on the line intersections, not the squares)
  • Black and white stones — go stones, or two colors of small tokens or beads
  • Two players
Luck Lab Board Game Token Trays, 6-Pack Folding Silicone Swirl Color Bowls
Bits Trays / Resource Token Cups (set)
Small stackable cups that keep meeples, cubes, and coins reachable and off the board.
View on Amazon →
Affiliate link — as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Board size
Print at 100% scale. 9×9 is the quickest game.

The goal

Players take turns placing stones on the empty intersections of the grid, aiming to surround and control more territory than the opponent. Black plays first. It’s a game of patient area control — the most surrounded empty space, plus captured stones, wins.

Placing stones

On your turn, place one stone of your color on any empty intersection. Stones don’t move once placed — they only leave the board when captured. You may also pass instead of playing; two passes in a row ends the game.

Liberties and capture

Each stone (or connected group of same-color stones) has "liberties" — the empty intersections directly next to it. Remove an opponent group when you fill its last liberty.

  • A single stone in open space has up to four liberties (up, down, left, right).
  • When you place a stone that fills a group’s final liberty, you capture and remove that whole group.
  • You may not play a stone that would have zero liberties — unless that same move captures an enemy group first.

The ko rule

To stop endless back-and-forth recaptures of a single stone, you cannot make a move that returns the board to the exact position it was in on your previous turn. Play elsewhere first, then you may retake.

Ending and scoring

The game ends when both players pass. Each player scores the empty territory their stones fully surround, plus stones they captured (in some scoring systems, plus their stones on the board). The higher total wins. New players: just count surrounded empty points plus captures — it’s close enough to learn with.

Start small

A full 19×19 game is deep and long. The 9×9 board teaches all the rules in a few minutes per game, and 13×13 is a great middle step. Use the size buttons above to print whichever you want.

Frequently asked questions

What board size is best for learning Go?

Start on 9×9 — it has all the same rules but games take only a few minutes, so you learn capturing and territory fast. Move up to 13×13 once it clicks, then 19×19 for the full game. You can print any of the three above.

Do Go stones go on the squares or the lines?

On the line intersections, including the edges and corners — not inside the squares like checkers. The whole game is about controlling those intersection points and the empty territory between your stones.

How do you capture in Go?

A stone or connected group is captured when its last "liberty" — an adjacent empty intersection — is filled by the opponent. Place a stone that takes away the final liberty of an enemy group and you remove that entire group from the board.

Rules written by The Cardboard Shelf for this classic public-domain game. Print and share freely.