To all -

Without addressing anyone's specific comments here, I would like to make a couple of more general statements that MAY pertain to some things in the discussion, but may not, but all of which will pertain to Pente and Keryo Pente.

1. I would like to refer everyone to my original post. I know that most of you have probably read it by now, but I want to reiterate that the case IN FAVOR of the restriction is a LONG-term one. That is that the game CAN become as popular as a mainstream game like Chess, but ONLY if 100's and 1000's of master-level players play it so that strategy guides and large databases of moves are created and that the game is promoted to large companies.

2. Unfortunately, there was a small mis-communication between us and Fencer when we stated the LONG-term case for having the opening restriction on both board sizes so that the game can get the sponsorship that it needs. When doing so, we stated something like it would be 'very difficult' or 'extremely difficult' for player 2 to win without the restriction. We did not SPECIFICALLY state 'virtually impossible'. I do NOT fault Fencer for this ONE BIT!! He has MANY things to look after and things to do and in many languages 'very difficult' and 'virtually impossible' could be interpreted in an identical fashion. Unfortunately, I think that that choice of words has given many of you the impression that we are somehow trying to 'pull the wool over your eyes'. We will see if he will consider changing that wording to 'very difficult' on the main page.

3. I'm afraid that I misinformed Walter at an IYT game that Pente/Keryo Pente was bought by Milton Bradley in the mid-80's. It was actually bought by Parker Brothers. I frequently get these two gaming companies confused. I apologize for any confusion that I caused there.

4. Parker Brothers no longer owns the rights to Pente/Keryo Pente. We (at least myself) are not EXACTLY clear on who owns it. We know that the rights were sold to a company named Decipher sometime in the '90's and that they have since sold ALL or PART of the rights, but that is what I'm not clear on.

5. As everyone should be aware of by now, Dmitri King and I are currently playing 6 games as player 1 against Pioneer54, Walter, and Dangerous Mind, 4 at IYT and 2 here, without the opening restriction. All 3 of these players have won titles at IYT and Pioneer54 has won NUMEROUS titles, so we think this will be a good test. We are doing this to prove that player 2 cannot win without the restriction. In 2 of the games that are around move 7-8, we now have overwhelming advantages. In the other 4, they are still pretty much in the opening stages. (Moves 3-5) One of the players has stated that they will have to 'change' or 'adjust' their strategy as player 2 in order to beat us. We have replied that it will make no difference what strategy they use because they cannot win as player 2. Also one of the players has stated that they aren't comfortable with 'throwing out bait' meaning that they aren't comfortable making pairs or split-3's when attacking because they might be captured. This is unfortunate because these things are VERY necessary to PROVE that player 1 has an overwhelming advantage and to further the development of the player. This occurs to MANY players who play without the restriction for an extended period of time. It has become so common that I can almost immediately tell if someone was introduced to Pente or Keryo Pente correctly or without the restriction. Invariably if they have played it incorrectly, they will try to avoid a pair or split-3 at almost any cost. This is what is hurting the game.

6. It is our objective to win the six 'demonstration' games in #5 and then play whomever wants to or whatever # of games of more games is necessary (within reason) to prove that player 2 cannot win without the restriction. If by chance we do lose ONE game, we will be able to point to the EXACT move where we made a grave error.

7. Once again, I want to state that playing without the restriction is NOT a variant, it is the incorrect rules for the game. Playing on a different sized board can be considered a variant and most of are fine with that, especially since it is needed for the Web-TV users. Personally, I am looking forward to playing some games on the smaller boards with the restriction.

8. I will not apologize for any post that I have made here about this particular topic as I feel that everything that I said is justified. But I WOULD like to apologize to anyone at IYT or anyone else who feels like I have promoted this site in an incorrect manner in some way by bringing up IYT's problems. I am not attempting to offend anyone by such tactics, but to only promote what I think to be a GREAT site! I just thought that by bringing up IYT's problems, that it would allow people to see how much better this site is than IYT. I may have been mistaken in bringing up all of their problems, so I will avoid such tactics in the future.


It is my hope that we can all get past these differences and get back to enjoying the great games of Pente and Keryo Pente and what is best for the LONG-term betterment of the game.


Gary Barnes


Note: I will be on vacation this weekend so I will not be checking the message board during that time.