On eBay, a copy of Tom Braunlich's book Pente: Secrets of Advanced Play is currently on auction. I had placed a bid for $15.61 and someone has outbid me, so the price is up to $16.11 now! Has anyone here seen this book, and if so what do you think of it?
This book was written before the invention of Keryo-Pente, which is my main interest. I suppose some of the same strategies would apply, but I'm a beginning player and other people here would know better.
Mark Thompson
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Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Sep 5, 2000, 10:50 AM
I found my copy of Pente Strategy Book II up in the closet. Braunlich wrote it in 1982, and I think it was the last he wrote on Pente. According to Amazon.com, he wrote 4 titles on Pente, but I only knew of Book I and Book II. It appears he has teamed up with Rollie Tesh on a couple of children's books. I am not sure if Pente Secrets of Advanced Play would be worth your while other than as a piece of Pente history, but I think I would pay to read Tesh and Braunlich's children's stories. Scott
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Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Sep 5, 2000, 9:27 PM
He published part I and part II together in 1984, the proper title is Pente Strategy, subtitled Secrets of Advanced Play from a two time Pente world champion.
It is a good book with many examples and puzzles. It sold for 4.95 when it came out but is no longer in print.
MM
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Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Sep 5, 2000, 11:00 PM
I got my copy about a year ago from Powell's (www.powells.com) for somewhere between $10~$15. A quick check of a couple sites shows that both www.bibliofind.com and www.alibris.com have copies of Volume 1 (for between $6~$15), but I didn't see Volume 2 or the combined Pente Strategy.
You may be able to find it elsewhere if you know where to look. Hope this helps.
--Patrick
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Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Sep 13, 2000, 9:13 AM
I occasionally see volume 2 on www.abebooks.com whose database contains books from hundreds of used book stores. Generally it seems to go for around $30, where volume one goes for $5-15.
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Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Sep 14, 2000, 9:04 AM
My Grandma gave me Volume I in 1981 along with my first copy of the game. I just recently started playing Pente on a regular basis again and dug out the book. Just yesterday, I put in an order for Volume II from a place in California (I'll look up the link) and today I decided to check out the Pente club on Yahoo... weird timing.
-Sean
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Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Sep 14, 2000, 10:08 AM
Haven't had the time to drop by lately but see Braunlich's books mentioned. I might sell mine-if I can locate them and anyone's interested. In any case I'm out of state for awhile longer. I read his books back in '82 and then went to the district tournament in Dallas...Rollie Tesh won there I believe. Met Tom B. and talked with him there. I came in last place out of 30 players as I remember. I lost to a girl who lived across the street for 29th place. Interesting to see my neighborhood bookstore mentioned also (Powells)--I used to go there back when he had maybe a few hundred books in his first store.
Later on all, Gaylen
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Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Sep 15, 2000, 5:56 AM
Welcome to the club Sean (home-biskit)! Yes, that site for Tom's book would be of interest. Come play some Pente with us at one of the game sites listed here under links! Several of us old timers here have played since the 80s.
Joe
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Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Sep 15, 2000, 5:17 PM
Thanks for the welcome, Joe!
I ordered the book from:
The Warm Springs Book Company P.O. Box 995 Fremont, CA U.S.A., 94537-0995 510-683-9038 wsbco@e...
However, I'm still waiting on a confirmation that it is in stock.
I play a few games at pente.org which was pretty fun. The first couple I lost to the computer before I got the hang of playing on that tiny board. I played one game against a real live person and am looking forward to more. I also started a game at ItsYourTurn.com.
-Sean
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Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Sep 15, 2000, 11:25 PM
Sean, Dweebo said everyone would know to hit the maxamize button, at middle top right, to make the screen at test version 3 on pente.org larger, but I didn't know at first. I am a PC dummie! Many of us are also playing at the old version, in the evenings, since the established ratings apply there. Come find us some night! We have fun and play some great games. New main pro pente tourney is starting at IYT. There is a link to enter at the top of the screen. Jump in! It's fun! Thanks for the tip on where to find Tom's books. Joe
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Hello everyone I just found a copy of Tom Braunlich's book: The official book of Pente / The classic game of skill Any difference between this copy and the other strategy books I & II ?? I've heard the Official Book is supposed to be the same as all the others together. Is that righr? Thanks for your knowledge 🤘
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Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Feb 22, 2023, 5:47 PM
I know this thread is holy jesus years old, but I checked out a copy of this last year from the downtown library. I also heard that it was Book I and II combined. It was interesting to take a look at, but 40 years ago was definitely a little more innocent (and somewhat pretentious)...modern abstracts and Eurogames still were 15-20 years off.
Because I play Keryo and O-Pente almost exclusively, there was very little in it for me that I couldn't find better (and more up to date) here.
Re: Braunlich's book
Posted:
Feb 22, 2023, 5:52 PM
Based on my recollection (which might be incorrect) The official book of Pente is different from the Pente Strategy book(s). Both by Braunlich, but the Pente Strategy book(s) have more (you guessed it) strategy. The Pente Strategy book(s) is useful in learning about shapes, threat levels, etc. but as metzgerism mentioned, there's more up to date information here in the forum (and in the old Pente newsletters, for that matter). Nonetheless, it's (Pente Strategy) a good book for Pente players to have (or at least read), since it's organized in a way that forum posts aren't.
Retired from TB Pente, but still playing live games & exploring variants like D, poof and boat
