How to Play Hex

Hex is played on a rhombus-shaped board made of hexagonal cells. The standard board is 11x11, but this tutorial uses a smaller 7x7 board for clarity.

The board has four edges. Two opposite edges are colored red (top and bottom) and two are colored blue (left and right). Each edge belongs to one of the two players.

The board starts completely empty. Players take turns placing one stone of their color on any unoccupied hex.

Players alternate turns, with Red always moving first. On each turn, a player places a single stone on any empty hex cell.

Once placed, stones are never moved or removed. Here Red has played in the center of the board, Blue responded to the left, and Red placed a second stone nearby.

Unlike many board games, there is no capturing in Hex. The board only fills up over time.

Each player has a goal: connect their two opposite edges with an unbroken chain of their stones.

Red must connect the top edge (row 0) to the bottom edge (row 6). Blue must connect the left edge (column 0) to the right edge (column 6).

The chain can follow any path through adjacent hexes -- it does not need to be a straight line. Each hex has up to six neighbors, so connections can branch and weave across the board.

A key property of Hex: it is mathematically impossible for the game to end in a draw. One player must always win.

A winning path does not have to be straight. Here Red has built a winding chain from the top edge (row 0) all the way to the bottom edge (row 6).

The path goes: (0,3) down to (1,3), then diagonally to (2,2), continues to (3,2), angles to (4,1), steps to (5,1), and finally reaches (6,1). Every consecutive pair of stones shares a hex edge.

Notice how the chain zigzags across the board. In Hex, flexibility in pathfinding is the key to winning.

The bridge is the most important tactical pattern in Hex. Two stones form a bridge when they are two steps apart but share exactly two common empty neighbors.

Here Red has stones at (2,3) and (3,2). The two empty hexes at (2,2) and (3,3) are their mutual neighbors. If Blue plays on one of those cells, Red can immediately play on the other to maintain the connection.

This means a bridge is a virtual connection -- the opponent cannot break it. Recognizing and building bridges is essential for strong play. Experienced players treat bridged stones as already connected.

Connecting to your target edges is critical. A stone on the edge itself (row 0 or row 6 for Red, column 0 or column 6 for Blue) counts as touching that edge.

A stone one row away from the edge can connect to it in multiple ways. Here Red at (1,3) can reach the top edge by playing at either (0,3) or (0,4) -- each one is a valid neighbor. Similarly, Red at (5,2) is one step from the bottom edge.

A common beginner mistake is to focus only on the middle and neglect edge connections. Strong players secure edge access early, often using bridge patterns to virtually connect to an edge from one row away.

The game ends the moment a player completes a continuous chain connecting their two edges. Here Blue has connected the left edge (column 0) to the right edge (column 6) with a winding path.

Blue's winning chain runs: (2,0) to (2,1) to (3,1) to (3,2) to (3,3) to (2,4) to (2,5) to (3,5) to (3,6). The connected stones will glow to highlight the winning path.

Remember: Hex can never end in a draw. The board topology guarantees that when all cells are filled, exactly one player has a connected path. In practice, games end well before the board is full.