Box Hex

Box Hex

Designer: mark Steere
Publisher: Mark Steere Games
Type: Abstract, Pen and Paper
Status: Free
BGG entry: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/23087
Available from: http://www.di.fc.ul.pt/~jpn/gv/Box_Hex.pdf (rules and board)
http://www.marksteeregames.com/Box_Hex_rules.pdf (rules only)
http://www.marksteeregames.com/Box_Hex_board.pdf (board only)

Box Hex is a variant of Hex, a game invented by Piet Hein in 1942 and independently by John Nash in 1948 ,that has been adapted to a three dimensional surface - a box.

In Box Hex, the shortest paths of connection travel around the outside of the board - not through the center. There are four such paths: two for each player. This solves the strong first move advantage problem of regular Hex, where you have only one shortest path, said path being shared by both players. There’s no need for the pie rule in Box Hex.

In Box Hex, as in regular Hex, one connection must exist in a filled board, and opposing connections cannot exist simultaneously. There is a pentagon in each of the six bottom corners of the box. An asymmetric board was chosen for Box Hex to make the game a little more complicated.

Each player attempts to connect his two opposite segments with a continuous line of colored-in circles (in his designated color).