Maphex (2020)

Maphex is a derivative of the masterpiece HEX (Piet Hein 1940) where your opponent's move determines which sub-board you can play on (mechanism from Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe).

MATERIAL

• 9x9 HEX board composed of 3x3 sub-boards.
• 41 red counters and 41 blue counters

Maphex can also be played on a 16x16 board, that also seems more balanced.

PREPARATION

Place the board in the middle of the playing surface. Players take their corresponding discs (blue or red). Determine the starting player by any peaceful means.

HOW TO PLAY

The second player decides which sub-board the first player must place the first disc on. The first player places a disc of her colour on any empty space of that sub-board.

From now on, starting with the second player, players alternate turns placing a disc of their colour on an empty space of the board in a sub-board that corresponds with the position of the disc just placed by their opponent within the sub-board it’s been placed.

If this is not possible, then the player can place the disc on any sub-board (this happens once per game at most).

Note: One of the cells of each sub-board maps to the sub-board it’s in. These are called ‘autocells’ and are marked with a dot for clarity.

GOAL

If, at the end of your turn, both sides of your colour are connected by a continuous chain of discs of your colour you immediately win the game (just like in HEX).