The essential concept is one we’ve seen before. Multiple times, in fact, in games like Sequence and Touché. Faced with a grid, form five in a row by playing cards from your hand which let you claim spaces on the board. Mephistopheles is in the minutiae, as it were, and the designer of 5ive Straight made a couple of interrelated choices which elevate it above the pack.The board is a “high-impact” plastic 10x10 grid with spaces numbered 1-100. The first key decision was to arrange those numbers in a spiral radiating outward from number one in the center. Combine this with the fact that a card entitles you to claim the corresponding space or any unoccupied space of a higher value, and you’ve got some interesting possibilities. The lowest numbers are obviously the hardest to peg into, and they’re also located in the prime real estate in the center of board. The highest numbers line the periphery of the board where they’re least useful. It’s easy to set up five-in-a-row on the high numbers, but it’s just as easy for your opponents to block.

Website: http://www.gamereport.com/tgr20/5ivestraight.html