My feeling in all of this is that we should talk more about NEW rules for the opening restriction and NEW variants in Pente that even up the chances of BOTH sides as opposed to discussing something where one side has an overwhelming advantage.

Here's one that I thought of the other day. Keep the opening restriction as is, but in order to win, 6 or more stones must be placed in a row or 20 stones (10 pairs) must be captured to win.

For an even better improvement on that, instead of using the current opening restriction, 'G-Pente' rules could be used. G-pente rules are the same as Pente with the opening restriction but a further restriction is placed on player 1's move 2. In addition to the current opening restriction, he cannot play in a horizontal or vertical line 3 or 4 intersections away from his first move. So the coordinates on a 19x19 board of F10, G10, K6, K7, K13, K14, N10, and O10 would also be off limits for player 1's 2nd move.

THAT should make for some LONG and INTERESTING battles!


Gary