How to Play Sequence (Advanced)

Sequence is a game about getting five chips in a row before your opponents. Unlike Pente, however, you can't always choose where you move. This means the strategy for victory is slightly different. Here is what you need to know to be a winning Sequence player.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sequence board game

1. Use the corner spaces. Those spaces count as everyone's color of chip, which means that you only need to play four chips in a row next to one (instead of five anywhere else on the board) to make a sequence.

2. Cut off your opponents' access to the corner spaces. The most efficient way to do this is to play a chip exactly 4 spaces away from a corner. This blocks the final square your opponents would need to make 5 in a row using the corner, making the intervening spaces less useful for them -- and more useful for you!

3. Save your two-eyed jacks. Don't waste a two-eyed jack unless it is absolutely necessary to finish a sequence, or to block your opponent from finishing a sequence.

4. One-eyed jacks can be used to disrupt an opponent's sequence, but are most cleverly used to remove and replace a blockade of your own sequence. Wait until you draw a card that matches the space on which you were blocked. Then play the one-eyed jack to remove the opposing piece, and you can play your own piece next turn.

5. In a two-player game, always block your opponent from getting more than three in a row, and victory will take care of itself. In a three-player game, you will need to play more aggressively on offense.

Tips & Warnings

• In the two-player game, your two sequences can share a common chip; that's one less chip you have to play.
• Expect your first attempt at a sequence to be blocked; this is why you should not commit too many resources to it.