Nuno Miguel: I don't know or I don't know very well the games you mention (pente, spider lines, chess variant etc.), so I can't say anything about them. If I would, I'd most probably write something similar as here.

If somebody or better let's say, if you would put two invitations to alquerqe, for White and for Black, I'd of course pick the game as White, no doubt. :-) I can only repeat, that IMHO the best way to play this game is one two games match (NOT two games with switched colors).

Did I really played with 3:5 ratio? Funny, I'll check who invited whom (besides of tournaments). Btw, as I started to play alquerqe, I thought it's better to play with Black. Then I found the "unbeatable" c2-c3 opening...

About the Alfonso rules: I'm not really sure, but I think that without the Bell rules there could be much more draws. With them a draw is nearly impossible. Not with the c2-c3 opening (White has +2 pieces, why should he draw), so maybe only with the other openings if the situation is equal and the White don't want to attack.