We got out my Pente set that I bought at a thrift store back in Oklahoma City before we moved to Pittsburgh. I had only opened it twice before and neither time was to play the game. In fact, I had never played Pente until yesterday when I played with Elijah. However, I have played Go, which is similar.

The Pente set I have is vintage and apparently one of the first produced versions when it ‘became’ a ‘classic family game’…mine is in a red tube and the vinyl mat rolls up in the tube. It’s lable states that it is from Pente Games in Stillwater, OK. Here’s what it looks like now if you buy it.

PENTE is a registered trademark of Hasbro for strategy game equipment. The community has apparently not found a generic term that applies only to games with these rules.

Pente (?????) is the number 5 in Greek.

Pente was invented while Gabrel was working as a dishwasher at The Hideaway pizzeria in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Now, based on the success of the Pente game, Gabrel is the head of a group of Hideaway employees who have opened new Hideaway locations in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. During the early 1980s, an all-glass board was made available through the manufactury in Indiana as a limited edition. Glass-board Pente sets are now difficult to find.

In 1983, the then world champion, Rollie Tesh, proposed rule changes for balanced play. He claimed that under the current rules, White could always win with correct play, regardless of Black’s plays. His variation of the original rules is called Keryo-Pente.

The game eventually caught on as an alternative to backgammon and other games in nightclubs, and department stores began selling Pente soon after. Games Magazine voted Pente to be one of only 20 select “Hall of Fame” winners in 1991. At one time there were Pente leagues and clubs around the world; international tournaments were held for a number of years.

Hasbro ceased distribution of Pente in 1993. It later licensed Pente to Winning Moves, a classic games publisher, which resurrected the game in 2004. Pente is currently available in stores, and directly from Winning Moves. (information from Wikipedia)

E’s red & I’m white

And when you are done playing the game, Pente peices and board make a great platform for creating interesting designs and shapes.

Pente is a fantastic game that combines elements of Tic-Tac-Toe, Chess & Checkers all into one fairly simple game. It does take some strategy and can be made quite difficult with a few tweaks of the rules. I have to say that Pente gets two thumbs up over here. Go try it for free now!