Argh, it's happened again. I was reading through the old threads on this board and I am relieved that I'm not the only one who realizes the inherent disadvantage of incurring a heavy penalty on the first move. It's utterly deflating and nearly renders the game meaningless for the first player. One should not be punished so harshly for having to take a wild guess. What about reducing the penalty from negative 5 to negative 2? This would at least give the player a better chance to get back into the game. I also like the idea of starting with neutral spaces.