New Zealand's Tantrix honour rests with Auckland mathematician Jamie Sneddon, who has beaten 54 other players to the Internet finals of the 1999 World Championship.

Tantrix is a game of logic and chance created by Nelson inventor Mike McManaway. Players use hexagonal tiles, either on a table or over the web to create continuous lines of colour in games of varying degrees of difficulty.

Mr Sneddon must complete nine games this week against Australia's Zenon Kowalczyk in the final play-off. Players from a dozen countries have already been knocked out.

Mr Sneddon is a doctoral student of "graph theory" - the lines between points on a surface - at the Auckland University's Tamaki Campus. He began playing Tantrix almost a year ago, and says the blend of logic and chance makes it exciting.

Player tiles are selected randomly, which introduced a level of tension to the competition. You need to understand strategy, but know that things can change because of a tile selected by you or the competitor.

Mr Sneddon has spent a fair amount of time practicing for the finals but would not say how many hours. "I have a flat rate Internet access which also helps". He says it is not just the games that are interesting. It is the way people interact and chat while playing the game.