By my calculations this game has only 1680 board positions, or 3360 when you take whose turn it is into account. I'm pretty sure it could be solved mathematically - that is, a full tree of moves could be calculated and an optimal strategy could be planned out. (My guess is that it's a win for the first player.) Rules ambiguity - what happens when you can't move at all? For instance, if the board is as follows and it's X's turn: XO. XO. XO. And does "any direction" include diagonals? -- Denis M Moskowitz Jen feroca malbona kuniklo; rigardu liajn dmm@xxxxxxxxxxx sovagxajn vangharojn, kaj liajn ungojn kaj This Is Realtime! -><- lian faldan voston. <a href="http://www.suberic.net/~dmm/";>My WWW page</a>