In Paiko, a one-on-one abstract strategy game, your main objective is to spread out your tiles and block off your opponent's, with the capture of your opponent's tiles being a pleasant secondary objective.

On your turn, you do one of three things: place a tile on the board, shift a tile already on the board, or draw three more tiles of your choosing. You start the game with a hand of 8 tiles (if white), or 9 tiles (if black). Because Paiko has eight kinds of tiles, much strategy is involved in choosing your starting hand, and choosing when to spend time building your hand by drawing tiles.

You win Paiko by earning 10 points, and you amass points by positioning your tiles in aggressive places on the board.