Each player has 12 playing pieces of one color. In the first stage of the game players take turns placing their pieces on the intersections of the board, attempting to make a connected line of three inside one of the five squares on the board. A line with pieces in more than one square doesn't count. Once all the pieces have been placed, the players may slide them. Whenever a player makes a line of three, he removes an opponent's piece of his choice, which is not part of a line of three. When one player has only three pieces left, he is allowed to move any piece from any point on the board to any other point. As soon as one player is left with only two pieces, his opponent wins the game. —user summary