board with black and white stones. It allows captures of pairs like Pente, but has complex opening rules and first player restrictions, such as requiring exactly five stones in a row to win, and restricting the first player from forming open double threes. Gabrel sent his new ruleset to 10 different companies hoping to get publisher backing, but was rejected by all of them. Gabrel describes the experience of approaching prospective partners, saying "I went to the very few acquaintances I had, but they all rejected my propositions because they didn't understand the promise of the game, and they didn't have any respect for me as a prospective professional." He continued looking for a partner who had both experience and the funds to help get his plans off the ground and found someone listed in the phone book as an "inventor." The man already had a project that he was committed to, but agreed to help Gabrel, and together they applied for a copyright and had 200 copies of the game made. Looking for a name, they settled on "Pente" (πέντε), which comes from the word for "five" in Greek, a reference to the win conditions of getting five in a row or making five captures. They avoided an "oriental" sounding name despite the inspiration from Go and Gomoku because, according to Gabrel, feelings about the war were still "running high." In 1978 Gabrel, now a manager, intended to quit his job at Hideaway pizza and devote his time exclusively to Pente, but his partner expressed doubts saying that "the world wasn't ready for Pente." Gabrel's bank rejected Gabrel's request for a loan several times as well, eventually turning him down for even $1000. He persisted, and got a small loan from a different bank and borrowed money from his family, using to it buy out his partner and make a down payment on a GMC van in order to travel around selling copies of the game. He traveled across the southwest, staying a few days each in towns and cities in the area, selling and teaching pente to gift-store owners, club owners, and reporters. The money gained in each town was usually enough to allow him to continue for a few weeks at a time. Through 1978 and the first half of 1979, Gabrel sold around 5,000 Pente sets, with the game being played in several popular clubs in