Aconnection game is a type ofabstract strategy game in which players attempt to complete a specific type of connection with their pieces. This could involve forming a path between two or more endpoints, completing a closed loop, or connecting all of one's pieces so they are adjacent to each other.[1] Connection games typically have simple rules, but complex strategies. They have minimal components and may be played as board games, computer games, or evenpaper-and-pencil games.
In many connection games, the goal is to connect two opposite sides of the board. In these games, players take turns placing or moving pieces until one player has a continuous line of pieces connecting their two sides of the playing area.Hex,TwixT, andPÜNCT are typical examples of this type of game.
According to Browne,Hex (developed independently by the mathematicians Piet Hein and John Nash in the 1940s) is considered to be the first connection game, although earlier games involving connectivity have been noted to predateHex, includingLightning (1890s) andZig-Zag (1932).[1]: 4 [2][3]Martin Gardner is credited with popularizing the genre in his writeup ofHex inScientific American (1957),[1]: 4 [4] expanded and republished inMathematical Puzzles & Diversions (1959).[5] It was shown, starting with smaller boards, the player making the first move had a decided advantage, depending on where the initial move was made.[5]: 76 In his 1959 book, Gardner also mentions thatClaude Shannon proposed a modified version ofHex that would be played on a board with three equal-length sides; the winning condition would be changed to the first to connect all three sides.[5]: 79 This was a variant of the gameY, which was a generalization ofHex that had been invented independently by John Milnor, Charles Titus, and Craige Schensted in the early 1950s.[6]
Hex andY were examples of games where the players competed to build a path connecting sides of the board. In the June 2000 issue ofGames,[7] R. Wayne Schmittberger identified an additional sub-class of connection game in which points were bridged to form connections although the overall goal – forging a path connecting opposite sides of the board – was the same. These games includedGale/Bridg-it (1958/1960)[8][9] andTwixT (1962). Schmittberger also identified a third sub-class whereserpentiles with preprinted paths, such asPsyche-paths/Kaliko (1970) andTrax (1981), were used. In 1984, Larry Back began developing what would becomeOnyx, a connection game with a capturing mechanic.[10]
Havannah is a two-playerabstract strategyboard game invented byChristian Freeling. Unlike Hex or other connection games, Havannah has three conditions that enable a player to win: creating a Fork; creating a Bridge; or creating a Ring. Aring is a loop around one or more cells regardless of whether or not the encircled cells are occupied by any player or empty. Abridge connects any two of the six corner cells of the board. Afork connects any three edges of the board (a corner point is not considered part of an edge). Havannah has "a sophisticated and varied strategy" and is best played on a base-10 hexagonal board, 10 hex cells to a side.[11]
The game was published for a period in Germany byRavensburger, with a smaller, base-8 board suitable for beginners. It is currently only produced by Hexboards, a Dutch company that produces laser-carved gaming boards.[12]
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Hex is a two playerabstract strategyboard game in which players attempt to connect opposite sides of ahexagonal board. Hex was invented by mathematician and poetPiet Hein in 1942 and independently byJohn Nash in 1948.
It is traditionally played on an 11×11rhombus board, although 13×13 and 19×19 boards are also popular. Each player is assigned a pair of opposite sides of the board which they must try to connect by taking turns placing a stone of their color onto any empty space. Once placed, the stones cannot be moved or removed. A player wins when they successfully connect their sides together through a chain of adjacent stones. Draws are impossible in Hex due to thetopology of the game board.
The game has deep strategy, sharp tactics and a profound mathematical underpinning related to theBrouwer fixed-point theorem. The game was first marketed as a board game inDenmark under the nameCon-tac-tix, andParker Brothers marketed a version of it in 1952 calledHex; they are no longer in production. Hex can also be played with paper and pencil on hexagonally ruledgraph paper.
Tak is a two-playerabstract strategy game designed byJames Ernest andPatrick Rothfuss and published byCheapass Games in 2016. Its design was based around the fictional game of Tak described in Patrick Rothfuss' 2011 fantasy novelThe Wise Man's Fear.[13]
The goal of Tak is to be the first to connect two opposite edges of the board with your pieces, called "stones", and create a road. To accomplish this, players take turns placing their own stones and building their road while blocking and capturing their opponent's pieces to hinder their efforts at the same. A player "captures" a stone by stacking one of their pieces on top of the opponent's. This creates athree dimensional element to the game play absent in other well known connection games, such ashex. In addition the player may place and move a piece called the capstone or play normal stones "standing" up on their edge. The capstone and standing stones have different powers and rules regarding their use in the game.
Y is anabstract strategyboard game, first described byJohn Milnor in the early 1950s.[14][15]: 87 [16] The goal of Y is similar to Hex except that each player has the identical goal of making a connection between all three sides forming a "Y" rather than "owning" specific sides that must be connected. The game was independently invented in 1953 byCraige Schensted and Charles Titus. It is an early member in a long line of games Schensted has developed, each game more complex but also more generalized.
The cover shows the version of Havannah published by Ravensburger in 1981. Expert players now prefer to play on a hexagonal board with 10 spaces on each side, but otherwise the game is unchanged.
[Schensted stated the results of this exercise, and those of exercises 62 and 69, in a 28-page letter sent to Martin Gardner on 21 January 1979. Milnor had written to Gardner on 26 March 1957 about a corresponding game called "Triangle."]
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