Cursor Gomoku

Cursor Gomoku

Commodore PET - Screenshot - Title.

Developer David Malmberg Publisher The Code Works Published 1979-12-?? Platforms Commodore PET Genres Board game, Connection, Single-screen, Strategy, Turn-based strategy Distribution Commercial

Cursor Gomoku, despite it's title, is a video game adaption of the board game renju developed by David Malmberg and published by The Code Works for the Commodore PET in their December 1979 issue of Cursor magazine.

The game is a pretty bare-bones rendition of renju and only supports single player against an AI of varying play styles.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes. All three play styles while giving CPU first move.
Finished	2025-04-20.

Having become a fan of gomoku, I was curious to try some of the earliest made gomoku titles to see how strong their AI was. Seeing a version for the Commodore PET, I was eager to try it out and win another PET game. I beat all three play styles, with the CPU having first move, and, in the process, discovered the game was actually renju, not gomoku.

Review

3	4	3	1	3

Best Version: Commodore PET

Good

• The game competently enforces the rules of renju on a 14x14 board and has an adequate AI which was still impressive in 1979.
• The the graphics are monochrome text, they still do an effective job of displaying the game board, showing when the AI is processing its next move, and where it moved.

Bad

• Having a 14x14 board is a very unusual grid size variant. The game is typically played on 15x15 or 19x19, and there is room on the screen for a 15x15 board.
• The AI is very slow to make moves, especially as the board becomes more complex. It even reconsiders its move after it places its piece, which is odd. At least the game shows a moving cursor as the AI chooses a next move so you can tell it's doing something.
• The game lacks instructions. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a big deal since gomoku's game play is very simple, however, the game actually enforces the rules of renju, which is slightly more complicated, and a set of rules would be beneficial. The three and three, four and four, and no over lines rules are not self-evident, and the game doesn't even tell you that the moves are illegal, it just prevents you from playing. It's strange that the developer knew all about renju rules, yet still chose a 14x14 board.
• The AI isn't very good. I'm a pretty awful renju player, but I was still able to beat all styles of the AI even when giving the CPU first move. This means the AI is useless for players who know what they're doing. The only one I had any difficulty on at all was the balanced style with CPU first.

Ugly

• The game is totally lacking in media. There is no sound or music, the graphics are only text, and they are monochrome.
• The game doesn't support a 2-player mode, which would have been trivial to implement, and given the game more replay value.

Media

Documentation

• 

  Cursor magazine - December 1979 - Page 1.

• 

  Cursor magazine issue 15 - December 1979 - Page 2.

Screenshots

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Videos

Game play.

Play Online

Commodore PET

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	This game doesn't have characters.
Bechdel test?	Fail	This game doesn't have characters.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	This game doesn't have characters.
Queer character?	Fail	This game doesn't have characters.

Credits

Role	Staff
Programmer	David Malmberg

Links