Re: Historicity of "Pente"

["chuck graves" <chuck_graves@mail.hq.faa.gov>]

Greetings, good patrons of the Merry Rose.

The good lord from Ansteorra has brought up an interesting 
alternative:

> Pente is a modern game, invented less than 20 years ago; I 
> believe the inventor lives in Oklahoma.

I reviewed Hoyle (or the latest edition I could find) and Pente is 
not mentioned.  However, Go-moku (or Go-bang) is. The rules are 
similar but vary: (1) Pente allows capturing of pairs (which 
resembles Go but not Go-moku), (2) Go-moku is played on the points 
(intersections) of the board while Pente is played in the spaces, 
and (3) Go-moku has a limited number of pieces.

According to Hoyle, however, go-moku was introduced to England 
around 1885 (the English call the game 'Spoil Five'). As yet, I 
haven't been able to find a set of rules for that one.

Pente appears to be as modern as you say...but the inventor (or is 
that merchandiser) borrowed _heavily_ from a somewhat older game. 
I'll keep looking--this exercise has become rather fun.

Unfortunately, if Hoyle is accurate, go-moku may not be as nice an 
alternative as I thought. A reduced-board Go game (9 lines) might 
be better.

Regards,
Tadhg

ps. (Galmr) Would you happen to know what book your dear wife used 
to produce her gameboards? She created a beautiful collection some 
time ago.