Steampunk Go game Factory Go released free on itch.io
Developer behind the browser board game launched it on October 24, 2026, after an early GitHub preview drew thousands of social media reactions.
A developer released the steampunk board game Factory Go for free in the browser on itch.io on October 24, 2026, according to Automaton Media. Players build black or white factories instead of placing Go stones, and the goal is to end up with more factories than the opponent.
The game gives Go's stones a mechanical twist: every factory has exhaust vents, and if all of a factory's vents are blocked, that factory explodes. Players can link their own factories together to share vents. A factory's vents are marked by blinking lights, which flash faster when the structure is one blocked vent away from blowing up.
Blocking off two areas entirely enclosed by a player's own factories produces a chimney and upgrades the structure into a large factory that can no longer have its vents sealed. The game uses Chinese-style scoring, counting stones rather than territory, with komi set at 7.5 points.
The project was first shown publicly on October 21, 2026, using GitHub's hosting feature, and a social media post announcing it had drawn more than 6,000 reposts and over 14,000 likes at the time of Automaton Media's report. The developer then made improvements based on feedback before this release.
According to the developer's post, more than 15,000 games were played on October 25, 2026 — 3,702 random matches, 184 invite matches and 11,191 games against the CPU.
Quick answers
Is Factory Go free to play?
Yes. It is available on itch.io and can be played in a browser for free.
When was Factory Go released?
It was released on October 24, 2026. An early version had been shown publicly on GitHub on October 21, 2026.
What kind of game is Factory Go?
It is a steampunk-style board game based on Go in which players build factories instead of placing stones, and factories explode when all their exhaust vents are blocked.