Because I encountered often the same questions when teaching a new player I wrote a short summary with the most important things for TwixT beginners on little golem.

1. You can choose a much more readable and bigger board with the diagonals under Main → Edit user properties.
2. You can analyze your TwixT games if you click on the text below the move history.
3. Which games are suited for me? I would recommend to start with rating tournaments. The players there should be about the same strength as you (after some games). It isn't that frustrating and you get a feeling where you are. Monthly cups are good to experience how better players approach the game and they start fast too, but don't worry if you are getting knocked out in the first round every time at the beginning. Finally the championship is a nice tournament to play many games against about even matched players. If you don't want to start at 5th league it's a good idea to build a better rating first with some other tournaments before entering, because you are seated according to the rating.
4. Where do I register to those games?here (Tournaments → TwixT or Games → TwixT
5. Where can I learn tactics and strategies of TwixT? There is a Twixt wiki onhttp://twixt.wetpaint.com/. Especially the articles under advanced game playing (Maxims for move, opening, middle and end game) I consider to be very helpful. There are also many TwixT related links in Alan's profile. The early Twixt puzzles and those 40 plus are excellent to learn TwixT tactics. Those in the middle are even for good players very tricky to solve, but possibly don't appear in a real game. Last but not least playing TwixT games and thinking about WHY a certain move is played (or observing better players and ask yourself WHY they played a specific move) is imho the most exciting form of lerning.

Well that's it. If you want to know something else just ask a better player or in the forum. When you begin to see the mechanics of TwixT you'll discover it's beauty and it's speed (Despite the more than 500 playable spots, the game usually ends within 50 moves). The speed can be a problem for beginners, because one wrong move at any point can lead to a loss and you may not know where the mistake happened, but don't give up and eventually you'll enjoy this unique connection game.

Lol lg doesn't like even numbers.

Huh, maybe this is a defense to keep anyone from even hacking the site.

I second the recommendation of the links in Alan's profile.

The Commentator is a great interactive way to ask questions about the games you play after they are completed. Not many players use the site this way, but it's a good learning resource.

The puzzles are a good way to learn many of the tactical patterns you will encounter when you play. Standard rules are in effect for these puzzles, as opposed to PP rules.

Wetpaint is also great and getting better all the time.

You can download a Twixt opponent. If you find it easy to defeat, you can give it a handicap. Or, if it beats you, you could take a handicap.

There are pictures, reviews, session reports, files, and general Twixt chatter on BoardGameGeek.

And I would be glad to try to answer any question, general or specific.

bump a thread like this should be sticky!!

Well, if we're gonna talk about “What a TwixT beginner on little golem should know”, how about this; The Twixt game board is but a field of land mines yet to be maneuvered…

hey i downloaded the opponent. pretty nice java app!

Thanks.

now im playing with “14 seconds fix” and still is easy.

lets see what happen with more time.

I think you can give 2 handycap stones and still easily win :) I never saw a strong AI for TwixT.

TwixtBot is now at 1680. Mid-level players can no longer take it for granted (as I learned :-). It's certainly strong enough to challenge someone just learning the game.

I don't think TwixtBot is strictly a bot. IIRC, it's a human playing in conjunction with a bot he wrote.

Oh. I don't recall reading anywhere that the Jordan Lampe involved himself in picking Twixtbot moves.

I misremembered. http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/forum/topic2.jsp?forum=55&topic=184

http://www.amazon.com/TWIXT-Ingenious-Strategy-Game-Two/dp/B0013N2ENY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314075983&sr=8-1

how is that possible?

The pieces are made of Gold?

Wow, I recently bought a second hand one in very good shape for about 10 Euro. What a bargain compared to that!

Hey, the price has come down 33%. What a bargain!

i will buy an used one, of course.

There are many 3M sets available on Ebay. That is where I got a set to replace my original board which warped when I left in the sun for too long. Just search for Twixt in the Toys and Hobbies section. Prices vary widely but you can get something for far less than that crazy Amazon price.

Here's an interesting article on how things can be crazily priced (much more crazy in that case) but I don't think that's what's happening with the Twixt set.