Chain Reaction

This flash game is very simple and reminds me of the 'life' games that you often find hanging around in assorted scientists webs. It is exceedingly simple in that if the conditions are right (different tiles lines are connected) it will continue going.

I wonder if there is anyway to mathmatically understand what the best combinations of tiles are to get as long a chain reaction as possible. I have noticed that having reactions where you have lots of small individual groups seem to stay alive for longer. I think it's because the individual groups tend to interfere with one another as it seems life the group works its way towards killing itself. I notice that after the reactions have moved on, often tiles are left facing the same directions, making them very difficult to involve again in the reaction.

My max score after a few mins of playing: 2132.

I wonder if there is some way to identify which start tiles have the most chance of resulting in a long chain reaction?

Found from worth1000.com.