Hex / Slither

¶ Rules for Hex

Hex is played on a rhombic hex grid.

¶ Winning

One player wants to form a connected path of their stones linking the top to the bottom of the board.
The other wants to form such a path linking the left to the right.

¶ Each Turn

1. Place one of your stones on an empty space.

That’s it.

¶ Hex Variants

Y is like Hex, but played on a triangular hex grid and the objective is to connect all three sides with a single connected shape.

¶ Slither and Other Square Board Connection Games

The basic rules are the same as in Hex. Players take turns placing stones on the grid. One player wants to form an orthogonally-connected path of their stones linking the top to the bottom of the board.
The other wants to form such a path linking the left to the right.

¶ Complications When Playing on a Square Grid

Firstly: Stones do not connect in the diagonal directions. Only orthogonal directions count for connection and adjacency, unless otherwise mentioned.

Secondly: Special attention must be paid to “bare diagonals”. Two diagonally-adjacent allied stones form a bare diagonal unless they’re also adjacent to the same third allied stone.

Okay:        Bare:     Crosscut:
    🔴🔴        🔴⬜        🔴🔵
    ⬜🔴        ⬜🔴        🔵🔴

Bare diagonals risk the formation of “crosscuts”, which can block both players from winning.

¶ Additional Rules for Slither

• Before you place a stone, you may optionally move one of your stones.
  • Stones move like a chess king (to an orthogonally or diagonally adjacent empty space).
• At the end of your turn, there must be no bare diagonals.
• Optional Advanced variant: You can only move a stone if it’s adjacent to a group of stones containing both colors.

¶ Rules for Similar Games

¶ Quinten

• After placing a stone, some regions of the board are automatically filled in.
  • The regions are the maximal connected sets of empty spaces.
  • A narrow territory is a region which doesn’t contain any 2x2 empty spaces.
  • After placing your stone, fill in all narrow territories with the color of stone which makes up the majority of its border. Ties are broken in favor of non-active player.
• At the end of your turn, there must be no bare diagonals.

¶ Resolve

• Bare diagonals are allowed.
• When a crosscut is formed, the active player swaps two stones in the formation to resolve the crosscut, and continues swapping until no crosscuts remain.

¶ Rhode

• Bare diagonals are allowed, but must be dealt with ASAP.
• If you have a bare diagonal at the start of your turn, you have to place your piece to close it.
• At the end of your turn, remove any of your pieces that are part of crosscuts except for the one you just placed.

¶ Shifty

• Either place or move a stone on your turn. Additional restrictions apply.
  • Stones may only be placed adjacent to allied stones (except on the first move).
  • Stones move like a chess queen. -To move a stone, it must start adjacent to an allied stone, and end non-adjacent to any allied stones.
• Bare diagonals are allowed, but crosscuts are not.

¶ Vimbre

• Instead of placing a stone, you may convert an enemy piece if certain conditions are met:
  • It must be sandwiched between your pieces (OXO),
  • and it must be adjacent to an empty space.
• Bare diagonals are not allowed.

¶ Gonnect

• Bare diagonals are allowed.
• The capturing rules from Go are stapled on:
  • Surrounded groups are removed.
  • Board states may not be repeated.

¶ Crossway

• Stones are connected both orthogonally and diagonally.
• Bare diagonals are allowed, but crosscuts are not.

¶ Kopano

• Stones are connected both orthogonally and diagonally.
• Bare diagonals are only sometimes allowed.
  • A stone can only be placed to make a bare diagonal if placing an enemy stone in the same position would also create a bare diagonal.
• Crosscuts are not allowed.

¶ Inventor Attribution for Each Game

Though this family of games is simple enough that independent invention often happens.