Each point on the grid may be colored black, white or empty. Starting with an empty grid, the players alternate turns, starting with Black. The game ends after two consecutive passes. A player's score is the number of points of her color, plus the number of empty points that reach only her color. The player with the higher score at the end of the game is the winner.
Equal scores result in a tie.
The grid of points is usually marked by a set of 19x19 lines on a wooden board. Each player has an arbitrarily large set of stones of his own color. By prior agreement a rectangle of different dimensions may be used. Coloring a point empty, i.e. emptying a point, means removing the stone from it. After 4 consecutive passes, the game ends as is.