Area: All live stones of a player's color left on the board together with any points of territory surrounded by a player constitute that player's area.

Neutral Points: Any empty points left on the board at the end of the game which are not completely surrounded by either player's stones are known as neutral points, and are not counted toward either player's territory or area. (There will rarely be any such points.)

Counting by Territory: When counting by territory, players add up their total territory less any prisoners held by the opponent (including dead stones removed at the end of the game). The player with the greater total (after adjusting for any compensation offered according to Rule 3) is the winner.

(It is customary for the players to fill in their opponent's territory with their prisoners, and to then rearrange their territories to facilitate counting. These are merely mechanical conventions to simplify counting.)

Counting by Area: When counting by area, the players add up their total area.Prisoners are ignored. The player with the greater total area (after adjusting for any compensation offered according to Rules 3 and 4) is the winner.

(In fact, since the total of the two players' areas will sum to 361, less any neutral points left on the board in seki, it is generally only necessary for one of the two players to count their area; if it exceeds 180, (or 180 adjusted for half of any neutral points in seki), they are the winner. It is customary for the player doing the counting according to this method to fill in his or her territory and then rearrange the stones into convenient heaps. Again, these are merely mechanical conventions to simplify the counting process.)