joshi tm: Well first, the site I'm talking about is GoldToken in case anyone is really interested.

They don't keep those types of stats - so I checked out, they have only a little over 200 rated players (so not a very popular game). Plus they have a special rule for that game only that is has to be EXACTLY 4 in a row. 5 in a row does not count as a win. (Which makes me curious if that rule is not in place to make things a little more even)

Anyway, I looked at the top couple of rated players, and it looks pretty even... with maybe player 1 having a slight advantage, but the wins/loses seem to be spread out pretty evenly. (Of course I only looked at a couple of players past games - so I could be wrong.)

Spider Line4. In current game, you can place a piece along any of the 4 walls - so A4 is a valid first move.

In Sphere Spider Line4, if you pretend the side walls are not there, then a move on A4 would be like it is in middle of the board. Which being able to start a piece in say A4, as I try to image a game - would give the first player a big advantage - since you can start to work to make a line in many more directions - giving player 2 possible too many ways to block before they can even make a real non-blocking move.

Gordon Shumway: Cylinder Line4 is on another site, and it is pretty fun - would be a nice addition here also.

Sphere Spider Line 4 would be strange - since you can place a piece on a wall - but in reality the wall is not there... so would it play just like Cylinder Line4 - or would you be able to place a piece in mid air (next to a edge of the board which is not really there.)

Fencer: I think that situation should be added to the rules.

I would think that if a "full" line moves into one of the edge rows, that it too should be removed. At least that is what I would think should happen.

BuilderQ: I just took a look, at first it looks like a great idea to add a third color, but if it's an option if a person uses the "wild" or not - I would never use it - I mean why would I want to place a piece that my opponenet can use also.

Otherwise the 2nd person can just keep placing their piece on top of the 1st, and sooner or later, the 1st player will make 4 in a row on the bottom row.

Variant.....

Spider Volcanic Line4 (Kind of like Gold Tokens Blackhole 4 in a row) - except with spider rules.

Start the game out with 1 square (Randomly picked) which is a "volcano" which is unusable for both oppenets. (Maybe even 2 volcanos - but that might be too much for the current board size)

Spider BONUS Line4 - (Kind of like Gold Token's Hotspot 4 in a row) - Except with spider rules.

There is a bonus square randomly put in the board which can be used by both players to make their match. the "Cross dressing" piece which will wear both players colors. :-)

Yea, I thought it would be cool if any full line would disaprear.

How would it work. Just the "outside" wall would disapear and everything else "shifts" that way, or would any line disapear and have everything else shift right or left to fill in the line.

(not to copy off too much from other sites), but I like how GT have a random piece placed on the board which both colors can use, and how they have a "black hole" space random on the board which NO player can place a piece - OF course they don't have those of the "spider" line games, just the normal line games, so i guess it would not be a copy there.

Also something that would be cool to try is some "special" shape boards. For example:

Square Wheel: 12x12 board with middle 4 spaces "blocked" out - BUT can build from the middle spaces also!

Here are things you can do to help your game:

1) Look at old games - take a look at the top players, study some of their past games - a lot of time, people will "fall" into the same trap over and over.

2) Whenever it is your turn - look at where the other person put their piece. STUDY IT, and ask youself "Why did they put that there" - most of the time you can find what they are planning, and go from there.

3) Use your in-game notes to yourself - If I have a plan, or something - I always list it in the notes for myself to read - like "watch out for B3" - or a step by step plan like "(me B3)(him B4) (me E3) - win 2 ways".

... that is all from me for now.

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)