How to play Yut Nori

Yunnori teamPublished September 29, 2026Updated October 6, 2026

Yut Nori (윷놀이) is a centuries-old Korean race game: throw four wooden sticks, move your pieces around the board, and bring them all home before anyone else. This walkthrough takes you through your first game in the Yunnori app, one step at a time. The full rules have their own page.

1. Get Yunnori and choose your language

Find Yunnori on the App Store or Google Play; it is free. The first time you open it, choose 한국어 or English. Next comes a quick age check and the Terms of Service and privacy notice to accept, then a short introduction, and then you arrive on the home screen.

2. Choose how to play

The home screen offers four ways to play:

Practice Alone: play against the computer. It is the best place to learn.
Pass N Play: two to four players share one phone and take turns.
Create Family Room: start an online room and share its four-letter code.
Join Family Room: type in a code someone sent you.

Pass N Play setup: choose the number of players and their colors, then Start match — Pass N Play: pick two to four players and their colors, then tap Start match.

3. Throw the sticks

On your turn, tap the toss button or swipe up to throw the four yut sticks. The result appears over the board: Do moves one step, Gae two, Geol three, Yut four and Mo five. Back-Do moves one step back; if all your pieces are still waiting to start, it brings one onto the board like Do instead.

Throw Yut or Mo and you earn another throw. In Practice Alone and Pass N Play you move first and then throw again; either way, every result gets used.

A game in progress: the board, a Geol result and the round toss button — Swipe up or tap the toss button to throw. Here the sticks came up Geol.

4. Move a piece

After you throw, tap one of your pieces to move it forward by the result. You can bring a new piece onto the board or move one that is already on its way.

Pieces travel around the outer square. If a piece lands exactly on a corner, its next move takes the diagonal shortcut toward the center.

The board. Pieces enter beside 참먹이; landing on a corner opens a diagonal shortcut.

5. Capture and stack

Where your move ends matters:

End on an opponent’s piece to capture it: it goes back to the start, and you throw again.
End on your own piece to stack (업기): the pieces move together from then on, but if the stack is captured, they all go back.

6. Bring everyone home

A piece finishes when a move carries it past the last station. You don’t need an exact throw: going past counts. Finish all of your pieces first and you win.

7. Play with your family

Once you know the moves, invite your family. Tap Create Family Room, choose two to four players and your house rules, and share the four-letter code. Relatives join from their own phones with Join Family Room.

Read the full Yut Nori rules →

Create Family Room: number of players, house-rule presets and the Create Room button — Create a family room, choose the players and house rules, then share the code.

Frequently asked questions

How many people can play Yut Nori?

Two to four players in Yunnori, either against the computer, passing one phone around, or in an online room with friends and family.

Can you play Yut Nori with fewer pieces?

Yes. Standard games use four pieces each; the host of an online room can choose two or three pieces per player for a shorter game.

What do you get for throwing Yut or Mo?

Yut moves 4 steps and Mo moves 5, and both give you another throw.

Is Yut Nori just luck?

The throw is luck, but choosing which piece to move, when to stack, when to capture and which shortcut to take is where games are won.