The game has five levels of increasing difficulty, testing hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and timing.

This traditional game has been a popular pastime among children in Iran, often played outdoors or on flat surfaces.

While gonggi's origins are uncertain, references to the game can be found in the artwork of painter Yoon Deok-hee (1685-1776; 윤덕희) and 19th century text Oju yeonmun jangjeon sango (오주연문장전산고; 五洲衍文長箋散稿).

While children used small pebbles or any object of similar size in the past, nowadays the game is typically played with factory-produced plastic stones.

[4] In modern times, gonggi has undergone changes, including the invention of the 'crisis' gamemode (see below) and addition of more fine-grained rules.

There is no single definitive version of gonggi; they have different levels and rules, depending on the region and the individual.

Before starting the game, the players choose the number of points or "years" (년) one needs to gain to win.

Once a player has mastered all five levels, they can challenge themselves to do them as fast as possible, a style called "speed gonggi" (스피드공기).

In the 2024 competition, the eligibility was extended to the general public, with 58-year-old 임광택 playing the winning 6.57 seconds.

For example, a game recorded in Jeolla province had seven stages, switching between different gonggi variants: 한짝거리 → 두짝거리 → 세짝거리 → 모태 → 꼬치장 → 까불이 → 곱.

Apart from this change, the rules and gameplay remain the same as the base game, with the number of stones the player must throw and grab being the same.

This variant's name comes from the way the stones are caught, resembling the movement of a Maneki Neko's paw.

The key technique of this game is for the player to catch the thrown stones overhand, with their palm facing downward.

In South Africa, particularly in Cape Town amongst the Coloured community, kids have grown up playing a similar game with pebbles called '5 stones', or 'vyf (5) klippies' as it is known in Afrikaans.

In Greece the game was popular until approximately the late 1970s, under the name pentovola (Greek πεντόβολα).