Difference between revisions of "Rules"

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== Shape of the board ==
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The [[Hex]] board is composed of [[hexagon]]s, arranged in an ''n×n'' [[Wikipedia:Rhombus|rhombus]], where ''n'' is an integer greater than zero. Thus Hex can be played on boards of different sizes. Currently, 11×11, 13×13 and 19×19 are the most common [[Board size|board sizes]]. The four [[Edge|edges]] of the board are colored with two colors, in such a way that parallel edges have the same color. The board is empty at the start of the game. On the left you can see an empty Hex board.
The [[Hex]] [[board]] is composed of [[hexagon]]s, arranged in an ''n × n'' [[Wikipedia:Rhombus|rhombus]], where ''n'' is an integer greater than one. Thus Hex can be played on boards of different sizes, and which size is considered standard varies. [[Piet Hein]] used a board of size 11, while [[John Nash]] settled on size 14. Nowadays people usually use the sizes that are available on [[Online playing|game sites]] on the Internet offering Hex. [[Playsite]] uses sizes 10, 14 and 18; [[Little Golem]] offers the sizes 13 and 19, while [[kurnik]] has boards of sizes 9 to 19. (See the article [[Board size]] for more.)
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It is also possible to play on boards of size ''m × n'' where ''m'' and ''n'' are distinct integers, but in this case a winning strategy is known for the player with shortest distance between his sides.
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<hexboard size="5x5" float="left" />
  
This is how a typical Hex board looks:
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Hex is played by two players, who take turns in placing a single piece on the board. One player will place the red pieces and the other will place the blue pieces. The player placing the red pieces wins if he builds a solid chain between the two red edges, and the player placing blue pieces wins if he builds such a chain between the blue edges. On the right you see an example of a win by the player who placed the red stones.
  
<hex></hex>
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<hexboard size="5x5" float="right" contents="R d1 B e1 R c2 B d2 R c3 B d3 R c4 R d4 B b5 B c5 R d5" />
  
== Playing the game ==
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The above rules give a strong advantage to the [[first player]]. Because of this, the [[swap rule]] was introduced. The swap rule is also called the "Pie rule", since it resembles the "You cut, I choose rule" when sharing a pie between two children.
Hex is played by two players, who take turns placing pieces on the board. The players have different colours, say red and blue. (The players themselves are sometimes referred to as [[Red (player)|Red]] and [[Blue (player)|Blue]]) The four [[Edge|edges]] of the board are coloured with the same colours, in such a way that parallel edges have the same colour. Red wins if he can build a continuous chain between the two red edges, and blue wins if he can build such a chain between the blue edges.
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For more information on how best to utilize the rules, see [[Strategy]].
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Suppose that at the start of the game the first player has the red pieces. Then he places a red piece on the board, in any cell he likes. After that, the second player decides who will play as red and who will play as blue. Then whoever was decided to be blue makes the next move, and the game continues normally.
  
== The [[swap rule]] ==
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The game is guaranteed to end with a winner because it is impossible for one player to surround one edge of the opponent without connecting his own two edges. It's also trivial to see that having the right to move is always advantageous. The [[Strategy|strategy]] page explains how to play for the win in practice.
The above rules give a strong advantage to the [[first player]]. Because of this, the [[swap rule]] (also called the Pie rule) was introduced. Suppose that Red is to make the first move. Then the first player places a Red piece on the board, in any cell he likes. After that, the second player decides who will play Red and who will play Blue. Then whoever was decided to be blue makes the next move, and the game continues normally (that's how it works at [http://games.wtanaka.com/hex games.wtanaka.com] and [http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv pbmserv]).
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Another possibility to swap (without changing sides of each player) is to make a [[Piece swap|piece swap]]. That is, the second player in his first move may remove the first stone which was placed on field with coordinates (x;y) and place his/her own stone on field (y;x). That's how it works at [[Little Golem]]. These two ways of swapping are effectively the same.
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[[Category:Definition]]

Revision as of 14:05, 30 March 2017

The Hex board is composed of hexagons, arranged in an n×n rhombus, where n is an integer greater than zero. Thus Hex can be played on boards of different sizes. Currently, 11×11, 13×13 and 19×19 are the most common board sizes. The four edges of the board are colored with two colors, in such a way that parallel edges have the same color. The board is empty at the start of the game. On the left you can see an empty Hex board.

abcde12345

Hex is played by two players, who take turns in placing a single piece on the board. One player will place the red pieces and the other will place the blue pieces. The player placing the red pieces wins if he builds a solid chain between the two red edges, and the player placing blue pieces wins if he builds such a chain between the blue edges. On the right you see an example of a win by the player who placed the red stones.

abcde12345

The above rules give a strong advantage to the first player. Because of this, the swap rule was introduced. The swap rule is also called the "Pie rule", since it resembles the "You cut, I choose rule" when sharing a pie between two children.

Suppose that at the start of the game the first player has the red pieces. Then he places a red piece on the board, in any cell he likes. After that, the second player decides who will play as red and who will play as blue. Then whoever was decided to be blue makes the next move, and the game continues normally.

The game is guaranteed to end with a winner because it is impossible for one player to surround one edge of the opponent without connecting his own two edges. It's also trivial to see that having the right to move is always advantageous. The strategy page explains how to play for the win in practice.