From jdallen2000@yahoo.com Fri Jul 23 14:58:09 CDT 2004
Article: 3510 of rec.games.abstract
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From: jdallen2000@yahoo.com (James Dow Allen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Connect-Five
Date: 22 Jul 2004 23:40:45 -0700
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Xref: news rec.games.abstract:3510

If you've invested in a 6-by-7 Connect-Four set, try Connect-Five.
It's a good, challenging game, and more exciting than Connect-Four.

The rules are identical to Connect-Four with two changes:
  (a) Five in a row win, not four.
  (b) Player drops two stones on his turn, not one.  Exception
     is that only one stone is dropped on the very first move, and,
     perforce, on the 22nd move if the game lasts that long.

It was almost 20 years ago that someone showed me this variation
(the one-stone first move to limit first player's advantage was
my idea).  Perhaps it was her own idea, because I've never come
across it again (except when I've introduced the variation to someone).

I don't know whether a win can be guaranteed, though a good computer
programmer should be able to answer that.  Perhaps I'll crosspost to
comp.programming.contests.

James D. Allen