Streak
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Best
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A three-in-a-row game from Nigeria and Niger, traditionally played with stones in holes scooped in the sand. Drop your 12 stones on a 5×6 board without lining any up, then slide them one hole at a time: every new line of exactly three takes one of the computer's stones. Win in a row to raise your streak as the computer gets stronger.
First tap empty holes to drop your stones one by one; holes marked × are off limits. When all stones are down, tap one of your stones and then a glowing hole next to it to slide it there. If that makes a line of three, the computer's stones start to pulse — tap one to take it.
The board has 5 rows of 6 holes. You have 12 light stones and the computer has 12 dark ones. You drop first, then you take turns until all 24 stones are on the board. While dropping, you may not make three of your own stones in a straight row or column, so nobody can capture yet. (In the rare case that every empty hole would make three, that drop is allowed but takes nothing.)
Then the moving phase begins, and you move first. A move slides one of your stones one hole up, down, left or right into an empty hole — never diagonally and never jumping. If the stone you moved now stands in a straight line of exactly three of your stones, across or up and down, you remove any one of the computer's stones. Making two lines with one move still takes only one stone. A move that would put four or more of your stones in a line is not allowed. Lines that were already on the board do not count; only the stone you just moved can make one, but you may slide a stone out of a line and back in to make it again.
You win when the computer is down to two stones, or when it has no legal move on its turn — and the same is true the other way round. If 40 moves in a row (counting both sides) pass without a capture, the game stops and whoever has more stones wins; equal stones is a draw. The counter above the board shows how close that is.
Each win adds one to your streak and takes you to the next game, where the computer plays at a higher level: it reads more moves ahead and makes fewer careless moves. A loss or a draw ends the streak, and so does pressing New during a game.
The game is really decided in the dropping phase, even though nothing can be captured there. Look for shapes that will become a three after one slide: two of your stones in a row with a gap, and a third stone sitting right next to that gap. Each such shape is a loaded threat for the moment movement starts. Because you also move first, a single ready-made threat at the end of the drop usually wins you the first stone.
The strongest shape is a stone that can shuttle. If one stone can slide out of a line and back in, it threatens a new three every second move, and the computer has to fill the gap or lose a stone each time. When the computer builds one of these, plug the empty hole next to its pair with your own stone, or take one of the pair as soon as you capture.
Choose what you take with care. Removing a random stone wastes the capture: take the stone that completes the computer's next threat, or one that is blocking your own shuttle. Late in the game, mobility matters as much as material — a side with no legal slide loses on the spot, so do not wall yourself in, and look for chances to freeze the computer's last stones against the edge.
The 40-move counter also works for you. If you are ahead by even one stone, a locked position that you can simply keep safe will win when the counter runs out. If you are behind, you have to force the play before it does, because an equal count is only a draw — and a draw ends the streak.