Puzzle #113: Black to Play; Best Move

Hello, Takolytes!


Nqeron has been paying since nice 6x6 puzzles, so I thought I'd post a size 5 one.

Here's a game I played against Aaaarghbot early in the week. It ended in Tinue, but I thought this point in the game was the turning point, so I made it  Bestinto a Move puzzle. What would you do at this point in the game and why?

For those new to my puzzles, I try my best to post one every Saturday night (EST) and respond to answers on Sunday morning. They are usually one of the following types: Tinue (game ending via forced road), Tinue Avoidance (is there a way out?), Gaelet (game ending via flat count), and Best Move (what would you do, and why?).

Please form your answer with PTN or a link to your solution via ptn.ninja. Also, be sure to use the spoiler tag so as not to ruin it for later puzzle solvers.

The new Reddit spoiler tag is shown below:

>!spoiler!<

Ex:  >!35. a3> 3b2+!<

** I have noticed some people commenting directly to my blog post when answering puzzles. I would kindly ask that you post your answers on the appropriate post on the Reddit page for Tak (r/tak). This will make it easier for me to respond in a timely manner. On that note, I would like to also apologize to those same people for my delayed replies.

Thank you and enjoy!!

Puzzle #112: How to Reinvigorate the Online Tak Community?

Hello Takkers!

First off, an apology:  I missed my normal Saturday evening puzzle post because I was out of town for a wedding. Usually, when I go out of town, I have enough time during the week prior to write the post and then just click publish when I'm out of town. But, last week kind of got away from me and I ended up with nothing.

Traveling did give me some quality time to talk to my wife about how things are going in the Tak world, mainly, that we seem to be in a slump when it comes to actual games being played/requested on Playtak/Discord. I think this slump carries over into other aspects of online Tak presence:  i.e. less participation in puzzles, fewer contributions to the subreddit, and a less inviting experience for new players. No one wants to get excited about a game only to visit the community sites and see them dark for days in a row.

My wife and I went back and forth on some different things I could personally do to help increase activity, and landed on a biweekly game night. So, in place of my puzzle every other Saturday, I will be trying to organize a game night. Not a competitive thing, but casual games to rediscover and reinvigorate playtak.com. Probably starting around 8pm EST, and open to all skill levels, we can gather and play some quality human vs human games.

Let me know what you think. I know this has been tried before, but I believe it's worth another try.

Let's get the Tak ball rolling again!