Its tic-tac-toe, 5 in a row, by whatever rules. Some are ancient, while the inventor of Pente still runs a pizza place in Oklahoma. Games can be played in 5-15 minutes, and a nice network of serious players is growing up.

There is an excellent, and free, Pente game download HERE (http://users.erols.com/msmammel/marksfiv.html). The site also has some good links and other information.

There is also an excellent site dedicated to all 5 stone games, called appropriately enough, Dweebo's Stone Games (http://www.pente.org/gameServer/index.jsp). It is one the official sites of Pente, and hosts most of the online tournaments.

To anyone that likes a serious game that can be played quickly, this is the place.

J

PS I gather this is getting to be a big game in Russia. I dont know why.