Pente

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Pente
Image:Pente.jpg
A sample Pente game
Players 2
Setup time None
Playing time 5–30 minutes
Rules complexity Medium
Strategy depth High
Random chance None
Skills required Strategy
BoardGameGeek entry

Pente is a board game created in 1978 by Gary Gabrel. It is a slight simplification of the Japanese game of ninuki-renju, a variant of gomoku played on a Go board of 19 x 19 intersections with white and black stones. The players alternate in placing stones of their color on free intersections; White begins. The players aim to create five vertically, horizontally or diagonally connected stones of their color. If two connected stones of the opponent are surrounded at both sides by a stone of the player's color as a result of that player's move, then that pair of stones is removed from the board. The player who first creates five connected stones or captures five of the opponent's pairs wins.

The game eventually caught on as an alternative to backgammon and other games in nightclubs, and soon after department stores began selling Pente. Games Magazine voted Pente to be one of only 20 select "Hall of Fame" winners in 1991. At one time there were Pente leagues and clubs around the world; international tournaments were held for a number of years.

In 1983, the then world champion, Rollie Tesh, proposed rule changes for balanced play. He claimed that under the current rules, White could always win with correct play, regardless of Black's plays. His variation of the original rules is called Keryo-Pente.

Hasbro ceased distribution of Pente in 1993. It later licensed Pente to Winning Moves, a classic games publisher, which resurrected the game in 2004. Pente is currently available in stores, and directly from Winning Moves.

PENTE is a registered trademark of Hasbro for strategy game equipment. The community has apparently not found a generic term that applies only to games with these rules.

Pente (πέντε) is the number 5 in Greek.

Pente was invented while Gabrel was working as a dishwasher at The Hideaway pizzeria in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Now, based on the success of the Pente game, Gabrel is the head of a group of Hideaway employees who have opened new Hideaway locations in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. During the early 80s, an all-glass board was made available through the manufactury in Indiana as a limited edition. Glass-board Pente sets are now difficult to find.

Contents

[edit] Strategy

[edit] Announced formations

According to official Pente instructions, there are three formations that are customary (although not mandatory) for a player to inform his opponent of, once created:

[edit] Tria

A tria is a straight line of 3 stones, with open ends. A triple is only 2 moves away from winning, and if a player does not block or disrupt the tria, the opponent could add another stone to one end and turn it into a tessera, almost guaranteeing his win.

[edit] Tessera

A tessera is 4 stones in a straight line with open ends. Unless a player can capture a piece from his opponent's tessera, or win in one move, the opponent has basically won. Placing a piece at one end of a tessera does not block it, as the opponent can place his piece at the other end, forming a pente. Even a capture cannot guarantee a player's safety - the opponent can replace the piece of the tessera captured and the player will be in the same predicament. However, in certain circumstances it is possible to capture two stones in a tessera at one time, or to win by some other means (by capturing 5 pairs or forming a pente elsewhere on the board).

[edit] Pente

A pente is 5 stones in a straight line. Once a player has formed a pente, he has won the game.

[edit] Other dangerous formations

Some other dangerous formations exist that a player is not required to announce. These are made more dangerous by the fact that some players may not notice them if they are unannounced.

[edit] Potential tessera

This formation is made up of an open-ended line of 2 stones, followed by an empty space, followed by another stone. If this goes unnoticed by a player, the opponent can fill in the empty space, completing the tessera. This formation can sometimes be difficult to see, because of the separation of stones. Players creating or defending against potential tesseras should be aware of the danger of capture, if the defending player places a piece in the open space in the middle, or at the end where the two adjacent pieces are.

[edit] Double-threat

A double-threat is any formation which provides 2 ways to win the game. Examples include two trias, a tria and a potential pente, two potential tesseras, or any similar combination. This is frequently the method used to win games at higher levels, since a double threat is about as dangerous as a tessera (which could be considered a form of double threat).

[edit] Potential pente

This formation is any in which a line of 5 spaces has 4 stones of the same color. For example, by blocking one end of a tessera, a player has changed his opponent's tessera into a potential pente (which, of course, the opponent would make into a pente). Like the potential tessera, the variety with open spaces in the middle can be deceiving to the untrained eye.

[edit] Captures

Captures are usually of secondary concern to a player, since a single capture cannot end the game. However, 5 captures can, so players should consider captures when choosing moves. Also, captures can greatly alter the state of the board, so players should beware of the potential for captures to bring new life to the opponent's old threats, or to invalidate formations that a player is trying to create. Especially influential is the multiple-capture, where a player takes more than one pair in one move, and the capture series, where a player takes several captures in a series of moves. The multiple capture can invalidate a tessera, while the capture series can capture enough pieces to win the game.

[edit] External links

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