Games and rules
Currently the hexy.games offers the gameplay of two classic board games - hex and havannah. Both represent abstract strategy, perfect information, connection type of games. Despite having simple rules, they require great strategy and tactics skills.
In order to mitigate the first-move advantage, the swap rule (sometimes referred as the pie rule) is automatically enabled. The rule allows the second player in their first move to swap the move made by the first player (i.e., to switch positions with the first player after his/her first move). As a result the first player should make their first move neither too strong nor too weak so that the second player was indifferent about switching the position.
Hex
Hex (known also as The Zig-Zag Game, Con-tac-tix, Polygon, Nash, John) was invented independently in the 1940s by two mathematicians, Piet Hein and John Nash.
The game is played on a rhombus-shaped board consisting of a hexagonal grid. The board is empty at the beginning and players, alternating, put the pieces (stones) on unoccupied spaces. Once placed, a piece cannot be moved (or removed). The goal of the game is to link the opposite sides of the board with an unbroken chain (i.e., the red player links the red sides and the blue players links the blue sides - beware: the edge hexes belong to both sides). There is no possibility to draw.
The game is usually played on boards of size 11x11, 13x13, 14x14 or 19x19. hexy.games enables gameplay on boards of size ranging from 8x8 to 26x26.
Recently Matthew Seymour has published a great book Hex: A Strategy Guide which is basically a collection of all hex knowledge available in the Internet, plus his own view on the game strategy and tactics. Highly advisable for anyone willing to broaden their hex knowledge.
Havannah
Havannah was invented by Christian Freeling.
The game is played on a hexagonal-shaped board consisting of a hexagonal grid. The board is empty at the beginning and players, alternating, put the pieces (stones) on unoccupied spaces. Once placed, a piece cannot be moved (or removed). The goal of the game is to form one of the following forms:
- A ring, which is a chain of stones looping around one or more cells (no matter if occupied by any stones or not)
- A bridge, which is a chain of stones connecting any two corner cells of the board
- A fork, which is a chain of stones connecting any three edges of the board (beware: corner points are not considered as a part of edges)
There is a possibility to draw, although in practice draws occur very rarely.
The game is usually played on boards of sizes 4-10. hexy.games enables gameplay on boards of size ranging from 4 to 13.