Advanced Playing Strategies for "Link Five" the Game

There is NO rule to the game other than that every block selected must always be an equal or higher number than the previous selection made by that player. Either player can start, since there is no statistical advantage to being the first to make a selection.

• It is advised that play is began by selecting a block in the center of the board, since from there it is possible to “Link Five” in any direction. One of the four wild blocks in the very center will be just fine.

• Linking diagonally blocks and blocking the progress of the opponents diagonal chains should be attempted whenever possible because the line of blocks on the diagonals are longer and chains must be blocked on both ends. Try to create diagonal chains and to block diagonal chains of the opponent.

• When the opponent has open-ended chains of three (3) blocks, it should be blocked immediately, unless the numbers on the ends are lower than their last selection and even then, great care should be used as to be able to block it within a move or two. This is because if the opponent creates a chain of four (4) blocks they will most likely win the game by linking five.

• To cause that the opponent must waste selections when going to blocks that do not help it to create chains of blocks, begins to allow to You to be in the offensive, because You will have more chains of blocks.

• The strategy used by most of the players is to tie three blocks, with free blocks in each side, the opponent must waste movements blocking twice, giving you the opportunity to attack in another area. Another method is in forcing its opponent to that it must block in a high number, this will do that it must go to a Wild block, wasting movements. This is because the players temporarily lose access to lower number blocks and the best positions, giving to you access to those blocks that help to create chains.

• Each selection that a player does must be with the purpose of blocking the opponent or creating a chain in a direction where five blocks are free. But the best selections are those that have benefits; that is called the “Value of the Movement.” The maximum possible value of a “Movement” is 16, meaning that a selection that blocks the chains of the opponent has a value of 1 for each one and if it extends a chains in up to 8 different directions adds the value of 2 by each one, multiplied by the number of links in each chain and by twice that amount if they are open-ended. Value of Movements from 6 to 8 is not usual, but occur from time to time, these Values of Movement can be fatal to the opponent, because they rarely can block multiple chains with one selection, giving you even more opportunities to progress. Although the players normally do not keep count of the total of the value of the their selections, in most of the cases the winner is the player who has made the selections with higher Values of Movement.

• Remember that strategy and surprise is the way to try to win, because intentions are easy to be seen by the opponent; the player who can better foresee multiple movements of the opponent has the advantage.

• Strategy that worked in previous games will not work exactly again, because it is virtually impossible for two games to be the same, because of the astronomical number of possible combinations of selections made by both players.

• In thousands and thousands of matches the game has never ended in a tie, unless one of the players neglects an opportunity to win.

We suggest that you next learn about the “Link Five” Television Game Show.