Hex (video game)

Hex is a two-player abstract strategy board game played on a hexagonal grid, theoretically of any size and several possible orientations, but traditionally an 11x11 rhombus. The game was invented independently by Piet Hein in 1942 and John Nash in 1948.

The objective of the game is for each player to form a connected chain of their stones linking the opposite sides of the board marked by their color. One player must connect the North and South sides of the board, while the other must connect the East and West sides.

Players alternate turns placing a stone of their color on any empty hexagon. No piece may be moved, captured, or removed from the board once placed. The player who completes their connecting chain first wins.

Hex is a connection game, a type of board game whose objective involves creating a connected path between two or more designated points. Hex is a deterministic game with perfect information, meaning that there is no element of chance, and all information about the game state is available to both players. Because the game cannot end in a draw, and only one player can win, Hex is also a solved game; it has been proven that the first player to move has a winning strategy if played optimally. However, the exact winning strategy for larger boards is not known and is computationally challenging to determine.

Variants of Hex exist that alter the rules, board shape, or number of players. These variants can introduce new strategic elements or modify the complexity of the game. Some implementations also include an option to reverse the traditional first-player advantage, by implementing a "pie rule," where after the first player makes their first move, the second player can choose to swap sides and colors, effectively taking the first player's opening move as their own. This helps to balance the game.