Game: Hex

Image

vintermann — 2008-08-07T06:54:40+00:00

CON-TAC-TIX board. Used with kind permission from Piet Hein A/S

Thread: Re: Availability of a premade board?

vintermann — 2008-08-04T13:12:13+00:00

I actually went and visited Mattesmedjan for my vacation. It's only 2-3 hours drive away, and I could hitch a lift with a friend who commutes. Bought a 13x13 board and it is very nice.

They showed me some 19x19 boards, and one 26x26 board, that they had custom-made for a US customer who had previously bought a set. Unfortunately, when they shipped it to him, he had moved, and didn't reply to mail. US post office couldn't find him either.

Anyway, they now have several 19x19 boards and one 26x26 board in two parts, to be put up for sale soon. I tried to upload images, but you know how the modding is.

Image

vintermann — 2008-08-04T12:26:12+00:00

Early position in my game with Sten Rydh

Image

vintermann — 2008-08-04T12:16:58+00:00

Outdoor boards at Mattesmedjan in Bengtsfors, Sweden.

Thread: Re: First win against Six on expert level! Move list + analysis

vintermann — 2008-07-29T12:26:00+00:00

twixter wrote:

I hope you don't mind some comments.

Are you kidding? Expert comments like yours are one of the main reasons I post these I will add your comments and branches to the SGF, like last time. I haven't had time to look at them very much yet, but it certainly looks like you're right about F6.

Thread: Re: First win against Six on expert level! Move list + analysis

twixter — 2008-07-27T11:52:40+00:00

You mentioned that 10. ...E4 might not be the best defense. But after 10 ... D5 11.D6 E5 12.E6 G4 13.i4 black still wins.

The strength of H4 is again shown. This also shows the reason for i5 in my 6. ... E8 line. So, you had a win after 6. ... F7 which you did not let go of.

EDIT: fixed a notational error, 13.i4 not J4

Thread: Re: First win against Six on expert level! Move list + analysis

twixter — 2008-07-27T00:55:53+00:00

vintermann wrote:
After many, many games both against the computer and Hex players on the net,
today, I finally reached the goal I set for myself when first starting out:
Beating the world's strongest Hex program (Six) on the highest difficulty
level.
Good job! I hope you don't mind some comments.

1. A6 ..

I choose the midpoint on white side for the opening this time. This was an
experiment, I almost never play them. Why? Because Six never does, probably.
I've just assumed it knew what it was doing, since it could beat me
consistently.
It's a good idea to present a moving target. You get more value out of the program that way. I believe Six should have swapped.

.. E7
2. H4 ..
This was thanks to lazyplayer. I'd seen firsthand how powerful these moves
four out from the obtuse corner could be. Even though it can't be directly
connected to the edge, it's extremely flexible.
Yes it's a strong move. It also spreads your threats in a direction parallel to your border rows, which as you point out is a good idea.

.. G6
Bridging towards the edge. It's what I did against lazyplayer, and it
turned out to be almost useless. That was 13x13, though, with more room
to block.
Six plays a positionally terrible move, but on this small grid it might be playable.

3. D8 D7
4. B8 B7
5. H6 H5

6. F6 ..
This might not be the best move. It helps your ability to connect to the top, but at the expense of weakening your ability to connect to the bottom. For example, if you immediately play 6.J4, then your H4 token provides all the help you need to force a connection from J4 to the top. After 6.J4 J3 7.i4 H3 8.i3 J1 black has two ladders on top of each other, and can force a connection with 9.F3 G2 10.E4

So the top does not need any help from F6. Instead, 6.F7 was probably better, because you do need all the help you can get to connect to the bottom. Or, an attack with either 6.J4 or 6.C7 was probably better as well.

Because white has only one chain, he can't possibly afford to not reply
to this forcing move.
Certainly white has to reply to F6, but that does not mean it has to block at F7. For example 6.F6 E8 7.C7 i5 and here are two branches:

Branch I: 8.F7 D5 9.D6 E5 10.E6 G4 11.G4 G5 12.i2 and I don't see any way for black to win.

Branch II: 8.D5 B9 9.C8 C10 and again I don't see how black is going to get past white. So, maybe 6.F6 was losing for black, and 6. ... F7 handed the win right back again.

Thread: First win against Six on expert level! Move list + analysis

vintermann — 2008-07-25T21:22:39+00:00

After many, many games both against the computer and Hex players on the net,
today, I finally reached the goal I set for myself when first starting out:
Beating the world's strongest Hex program (Six) on the highest difficulty
level.

Probably I should thank lazyplayer for this. I played a game against him
on iggamecenter, where he gave me the central hex for free, and still
proceeded to win solidly. When reflecting on what I'd done wrong, I
realized that I'd been too influenced by Six's style, and playing on 11x11,
so that I'd failed to appreciate how strong certain escapes can be when
you have just enough room. I wanted to explore the ideas, so I started up
a game against Six in a free moment.

I let Six have the option of swap, out of laziness: I'd never beaten it on
this level before, even with the advantage of no-swap first move, so I just
cranked up the difficulty level rather than switch sides.

1. A6 ..

I choose the midpoint on white side for the opening this time. This was an
experiment, I almost never play them. Why? Because Six never does, probably.
I've just assumed it knew what it was doing, since it could beat me
consistently.
.. E7
This reply makes sense to me.

2. H4 ..
This was thanks to lazyplayer. I'd seen firsthand how powerful these moves
four out from the obtuse corner could be. Even though it can't be directly
connected to the edge, it's extremely flexible.
.. G6
Bridging towards the edge. It's what I did against lazyplayer, and it
turned out to be almost useless. That was 13x13, though, with more room
to block.

3. D8 ..
Four points out from the other obtuse corner. Also an attempt to follow
the Hex principle of attacking the weakest link in your opponent's
strongest chain.
.. D7
Notice this: White is in a sense betting everything on one path across
the board. I, on the other hand, keep my options open - I can go either
on the top side, or the bottom, depending on how things develop.

4. B8 B7
5. H6 ..
We have both established somewhat more definitive blocks.
.. H5
6. F6 ..
Because white has only one chain, he can't possibly afford to not reply
to this forcing move. But this gives me an escape, allowing a potential
6-row ladder to climb towards the upper side.
.. F7
7. C7 ..
I want to play out the ladder right away.
.. C8
White, however, wants it to wait. He cannot prevent me from connecting
to the bottom, though. Maybe Six tries to plant some useful pieces in
case the J-row ladder turns?
8. B9 B10
9. C9 C10
10. E9 E4
Black apparently wants the ladder to be on the 5-row instead. Strange.
11. D5 D11
12. F10 F9
13. E10 D6
14. C6 D4
15. E5 F4
16. G5 ..
The H4 piece shows its worth. But it's still not connected to the top.
.. H3
17. C4 ..
... so I must put my opening piece to work as well. I wonder if white
couldn't have avoided this threat if he put the ladder on the 6-row as
I expected him to.
.. C5
18. B6 B5
19. A5 C2
Yet again he does the classic block. This time, however, it doesn't
change the row of the ladder.
20. B3 B2
21. C3 D2
22. D3 E2
23. E3
And white resigned. I would have jumped to G3, connected through F3 and G4.
H1 would be followed by I2, safely connected through I3 and H2.

]]>

Thanks again to you, lazyplayer, and to twixter, Assasino Vadio (because I
can't have a kid beating me!) and Arty Sandler. Getting here was great fun.

This concludes my series about my progress against Six. Hope you have
enjoyed it, and I hope to bring you more commented games in the future,
against human opponents

Grab the SGF file from my blog if you want to study the game,
all comments from this post are included.

http://vintermann.paranoidkoala.org/archives/000107.html

Thread: Re: Notes From a Beginner

Friendless — 2008-05-21T03:51:57+00:00

Gosh, thanks David. I guess you've confirmed that I'm only a beginner :-).

Thread: Re: Notes From a Beginner

twixter — 2008-05-20T23:33:37+00:00

Thanks! I wish more reports showed the actual moves. It's a bit difficult to see the position with these thumbnails, though. One advantage of using a free external image hosting service like Image Shack is, you control the size of the image displayed here. LG personal gallery images get thumbnailed. Or maybe you could use the "insert external image" tool and give it the full URL for the original size image in your gallery.

I hope you don't mind some commentary. I thought you and other readers might like to see some of the resources available to players. I believe you still had a win as blue, even after red's clever i8. The key was to answer red's 21.G8 with 22.G9 instead of G10. (Red is making the odd numbered moves, and blue makes even numbered moves.)

Now after 23.H8 24.i9 25.H9 26.G11

Blue's G11 cannot be stopped from reaching the K row. Red tries to stop it from reaching row A. 27.G10 28.F11 29.F10 30.E11 31.E10 32.D11 33.D10 34.C11 35.B10 36.C10 37.C9 38.D9 39.B7

It might look like red is winning here with the double threat of C5 or D7. But Blue can cover both threats with 40.E4

Now if 41.C5 42.D3 43.C3 44.C4 45.A5 46.B6, and then if 47.D7 48.F4 49.G5 50.H3 51.H4 52.J2 wins for blue.

BTW the fact that the second player achieved a winning position indicates you didn't need it, but the swap rule is available for a more balanced game. After the very first token is placed on the board, the second player has the option at that moment only to swap sides.

Image

jouslare — 2008-05-20T02:24:17+00:00

Rules and Board from Sid Sackson's The Book of Classic Board Games

Thread: Re: Notes From a Beginner

gmoralesor — 2008-05-12T13:49:24+00:00

Very nice intro for beginners!

Thread: Notes From a Beginner

Friendless — 2008-05-02T04:24:34+00:00

I should warn you before you read this review that I've only played Hex 46 times so far, so I don't really understand the game. However I can explain the rules and attempt to show you some of the beauty of the game.

Hex is a perfect information abstract strategy game typically played on a rhomboid board of 11x11 or more hexes. Smaller boards are usually too easy, but some bigger board sizes are popular.

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Players have (an unlimited number of) tokens of a different colour each - typically black and white, or red and blue. Each player also claims two opposite sides of the board, which are usually coloured as above so the players don't forget which sides are theirs. Players then take turns placing tokens of their colour on unoccupied cells of the board. The first player to complete a path between their sides of the board wins the game.

Sounds dull, doesn't it? I thought so too. It turns out it's much more interesting than you'd think. Consider this game between two beginner players (one of whom was me):

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Red's two pieces form a "bridge", which is an almost unbreakable connection. If blue plays on either of the spaces between, red can play on the other to ensure that his pieces become fully connected. Blue responds by blocking red's path and extending his own:

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Red's strategy is momentarily interrupted, so he takes the opportunity to mess with blue.

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It gets much more complicated than that, as well, but I don't have the stamina and you don't have the patience for the full details. For example, "ladders" can be formed, where players race each other along parallel lines until one blinks or finds some other cunning alternative. Then there are threats of ladders, forks, and other beautiful constructs as found in Chess and Go and Checkers - all of the great abstract games.

Consider the logic of this beautiful move by Stephen Tavener (playing red). Blue's group along the H line has got its nose in front of red's group on the I line, and blue threatens to connect the 8-line group to F9, and thence to the H line and thence to the top-right side of the board.

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Red plays a genius move at I8. Another red move at J6 would form two bridges to connect I8 to I5, preventing blue from reaching the side. However a red move at G8 would complicate blue's connection to F9.

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Blue can't ignore the J6 threat and plays there, leaving red free to break through and connect G10 to I9.

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At this point, blue needs to attempt to connect somewhere else...

As you can see, Hex is a deep and subtle game. There haven't been many strategy books about it, but there is one: "Hex Strategy: Making the Right Connections".

http://www.amazon.com/Hex-Strategy-Making-Right-Connections/...

You can play Hex on-line at Facebook, at gamerz.net, and many other places. There's also a very very good computer player called Hexy which can be downloaded here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~vanshel/

and you can find out all sorts of things on the Hex Wiki:

http://www.hexwiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

In this review I haven't touched on the mathematics of the game, I've barely touched the surface of strategy, I haven't told you the history and I haven't even explained the rules completely. But I hope I've inspired you to investigate this game more closely. After all, there's so much to learn, and you're still just a beginner...

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

gmoralesor — 2008-04-27T09:12:43+00:00

Gonnect,http://homepages.di.fc.ul.pt/~jpn/gv/gonnect.htm, by João Pedro Neto, is a very interesting connecion game in a square grid. Basically, it's like Hex, but allowing Go captures. I like Hex very much, and I still think Hex is better than gonnect, but Gonnect is quite funny and challenging too.

have fun!

P.S. I think Gonnect is in PbeM Server too...

Thread: Re: The progress of a Hex player (move list + analysis)

vintermann — 2008-04-20T20:33:29+00:00

Suggestions about better ways to share .sgf files are welcome...

Thread: Re: The progress of a Hex player (move list + analysis)

vintermann — 2008-04-20T20:16:05+00:00

I've looked through your suggested branches and added the comments to the SGF file (I figured out how). Thanks again.

I've tried Jhex, but I found it hard to use, not so pretty to look at, and binary format is a really bad idea IMO. It could be it is still the best; sadly, HexGui is a bit of a hack. I don't expect the author to do much further with it, but since GoGui is so awesome, at least it feels nice (and it does deal with SGF and GTP).

I kind of envy Go players in what they have to choose from in interfaces and tools.

Here is the contents of the SGF file, entered in font size 1 for easy cutting and pasting. Apparently some browsers refuse to print that small text, so to not mess up people's screens I've inserted linebreaks from the start this time around!

(;FF[4]GM[Hex]SZ[11];B[b1]C[Six's opening move was
one it always will refuse to swap, and that is probably a
reasonable decision. Unlike it's cousin A2, it rarely comes
to use as a ladder escape.

David Bush: "1.B1 has been proven to be a losing initial move,
just like 1.A1. Furthermore, as you said, it loses badly. Six's
opening repertoire needs work."];
W[f6]C[I let him keep it, and went for the centre. Often it is
good to make a more subtle reply, but this time I felt that the
first move was generous enough that it didn't warrant
adapting to this early.];
B[d7]C[A very common block in 11x11...];
W[e5]C[... It's not too direct, but forces play towards
the corner where black has some influence.];
B[c6]C[Black yields another row. I'm not so strong on
openings, really (which means I'm not so strong at Hex!),
so I'm not too sure what is best, this or
defending more directly with D5.

David Bush: "I'm not certain either, but D5 seems
like it would have been stronger. This is a bad habit
Six has, and Hexy also, to drop back when it would
be better to hold the line."];
W[c3]C[The attack proper begins. This threatens to
connect with D4, but blocking that would only turn
it into a ladder that is probably favourable to White.
Black has to start attacking my upper connection.];
B[g6];W[h4];B[f4]C[Fighting for the top corner, it's two fronts for
both of us: The direct connection, and the ladder
that black can force (but which would currently be
favourable to white).](;
W[d8]C[The last move was a little tricky, so I tried to see
what could be done on the other front. Black then must
decide: Will he connect to his upper side, or is the
threat to the lower side connection strong enough to
warrant a reply? D8 might not seem too serious, but I'm
pretty certain Black made the wrong reply here:
(see main variation)

David Bush: "I believe D8 was a losing move for you.
10.F7 instead forces a clear connection to both sides.
On the left you threaten D4 or D8. On the right you have
G5 or G7. For example [see branch for moves]"];
B[g5]C[He chose to grab the upper side connection.
I wonder if F8 would not have been a better choice.
Well, if he won't take it, I will.];
W[f8]C[Now black is in trouble. He has two upper side
connections, one secure at F4 and one potential at D4,
and white has attacked both of them in a rather
inexpensive manner. Seen from the other side, white has
two lower side connections, D8 and C3. Although neither
of these are secured, they are better balanced than
black's two connections, and they help each other
nicely, as we shall see.

David Bush: "It looks like black still could have
won at this point with 13.H7 instead of F7. Here are
two branches: [see branches in SGF file from move 13]"](;
B[f7];W[f9]C[Black has little choice but to push his strongest
connection toward it's unconnected side. I could prevent the
ladder from forming altogether, but I have to make an attempt
at my own upper side. F9 prevents the potential ladder from
going into threatening territory, together with F8 it is
also ready to make a strong attempt at the upper side.
I count on black not being able to make any double
connection threats - it would have to be combined with
the one through D7, C6, and that is not much of a threat.

David Bush: "Your strong 14.F9! snatches back the win."];
B[b10]C[Still, he made a brave attempt.];
W[c9]C[Now his strong connection can't connect to it through the
ladder. He has to try through D7, C6.];
B[b9];W[c8]C[He realizes that is not going to work.];
B[e8];W[d10];B[e10];W[e9];B[c10];
W[d9]C[Black forces some connections to grab a potential ladder escape
at E10. Why he bothered with C10 I have no idea.];
B[i8]C[Because of the ladder escape he just planted,
I8 is in fact safely connected to the bottom side.
It also threatens to connect to the upper side through H7,
and possibly through a very weak ladder threat
on the K row. However, now F8 F9 comes to their right,
launching a classic "mouth" attack:];
W[h8];B[g9];
W[g8]C[When I think about it, that "mouth" was probably
unnecessary, and H7 would have worked just as well. Anyway,
black saw it coming, and made a rather pointless forcing move.];
B[b8];W[c7];
B[b7]C[If you wondered after move 18 why it wouldn't work,
you can see it now, as black forces the connection.
If white only had D6 to escape through, black would have won,
but white also has E7, so E5 is already connected.];
W[d4];B[c4];W[d3];B[e4];W[d5];B[d6];W[e7];B[f5];W[e6];B[b4];
W[b3]C[Forcing moves which earn black very little.];B[i7];
W[h6]C[Finally, the mouth has appeared - although dented
by a forcing already. I kind of understand what the Go
players mean about "beauty of omission" and all that, but
since 11x11 Hex is a so much shorter game, it doesn't
really matter, I suppose. The computer's tendency to force
connections in random order does make games slightly
harder to memorize, though.];
B[i5];W[i6];B[k5];
W[j5]C[Connecting in the end for white was just a matter
of using the H4 piece efficiently.

At this point black resigned: K4 would be answered
with J3, safely connected through H5 and J4.];
B[k4];W[j3])(;
B[h7]C[David Bush's second branch: Black could probably have won.](;
W[h8];B[g8];W[f10];B[f7];W[e9];B[i9];W[g10];B[j7];
W[i7];B[j6];W[i6];B[j5];
W[i5];B[j4];W[j3];B[i4];W[i3];B[h5])(;W[g9]C[Another winning path for black
proposed by David Bush.];
B[i8];W[i9];B[h9];W[g11];B[g10];W[f11];B[f10];W[e11];B[e10];W[d11];
B[d10];W[c11];B[b10];W[c10];B[c8];W[d4];B[e7])))(;
W[f7]C[David Bush suggested this branch as a better followup to 9. F4.
To my surprise, F7, as he suggests here, is sufficient to connect
to the lower side. Naturally, it's also much more useful than my D8
for connecting to the upper side.];
B[g7];W[g5];B[i4];W[i3];B[k2];W[h5];B[i5];W[h6];B[i6];
W[i8]C[i8 can be connected both by the ladder starting at j3
and a bridge from h7, so it is safely connected already.];
B[j7];W[h9]C[David Bush's branch ends here. If you want to see
how F7 was sufficient to connect to the lower side, I've
played it out for your convenience.];
B[d4];W[d8];B[b9];W[c7];B[c8];W[d6];B[a8];W[b7];B[a7];W[b6];B[a6];
W[b5];B[a5];W[b3]))

Thread: Re: The progress of a Hex player (move list + analysis)

twixter — 2008-04-15T17:08:56+00:00

My preferred analysis tool is Jhex. A more recent version, with source code, which puts everything in one window, is at http://sourceforge.net/projects/twixhex/ but the version I use, with separate windows for comments and the move list, is at
http://canyon23.net/jgame/README_hex.html

Jhex doesn't have an engine. It doesn't understand the game object. But it does have a leaf node annotation system. The user labels the leaf nodes of the game tree as a win for one side or the other, or advantage for one side or the other. Jhex will then automatically label all the interior nodes accordingly. Symbols will appear on the board (which you can optionally hide) indicating that a move here would win but a move there would lose, for example. You can merge game trees, and add a comment to any node. Jhex file format is binary, but you can import a couple of text formats: Gamerz email type, and "simple" which I forget offhand. You cannot import SGF, but there is a Ruby script to turn Little Golem games into Jhex format here: http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/forum/topic2.jsp?forum=50&top...

Little Golem has thousands of 13x13 games and fewer 19x19 games available to view. If you click on the "txt" link for any game, you will see a radioactive mutant version of SGF which this Ruby script deals with.

Thread: Re: The progress of a Hex player (move list + analysis)

vintermann — 2008-04-15T07:10:20+00:00

Thanks for the analysis, Twixter! I will examine them at length as soon as I can. HexGui is a fork, maybe you could say a hack even, of GoGui. It does not have a lot of support, but it can play GTP engines, includes a GTP version of Six, and lets you browse game trees and view engine commands just like GoGui. I thought it could annotate games, too, and planned to include my comments in the file - but if it can, I couldn't figure out how. I'm still looking for the ultimate Hex GUI if you can give any tips.

Here is the link:

http://mgame99.mg.funpic.de/havannah.php

He's got a Havannah version also, but as far as I can tell it does not detect wins, so it is less useful.

Thread: Re: The progress of a Hex player (move list + analysis)

twixter — 2008-04-15T02:20:28+00:00

vintermann wrote:
...
And now, I've beaten Six on advanced level for the first time.

Way to go!

1.B1
Six's opening move was one it always will refuse to swap, and that is probably a reasonable decision. Unlike it's cousin A2, it rarely comes to use as a ladder escape.
1.B1 has been proven to be a losing initial move, just like 1.A1. Furthermore, as you said, it loses badly. Six's opening repertoire needs work.

2.F6 3.D7 4.E5 5.C6
Black yields another row. I'm not so strong on openings, really (which means I'm not so strong at Hex!), so I'm not too sure what is best, this or defending more directly with D5.
I'm not certain either, but D5 seems like it would have been stronger. This is a bad habit Six has, and Hexy also, to drop back when it would be better to hold the line.

6.C3 7.G6 8.H4 9.F4 10.D8

I believe D8 was a losing move for you. 10.F7 instead forces a clear connection to both sides. On the left you threaten D4 or D8. On the right you have G5 or G7. For example 10.F7 11.G7 12.G5 13.i4 14.i3 15.K2 16.H5 17.i5 18.H6 19.i6 20.i8 21.J7 22.H9.

11.G5 12.F8

It looks like black still could have won at this point with 13.H7 instead of F7. Here are two branches:

13.H7 14.H8 15.G8 16.F10 17.F7 18.E9 19.i9 20.G10. 21.J7 22.i7 23.J6 24.i6 25.J5 26.i5 27.J4 28.J3 29.i4 30.i3 31.H5, or

13.H7 14.G9 15.i8 16.i9 17.H9 18.G11 19.G10 20.F11 21.F10 22.E11 23.E10 24.D11 25.D10 26.C11 27.B10 28.C10 29.C8 30.D4 31.E7.

13.F7 14.F9

Your strong 14.F9! snatches back the win.

If you want to have a look at the game in HexGui, here is the contents of the .shf file. Paste it into an empty file (and call it something like "vintermann-review.shf") to create a file HexGui can load.

I know of Jhex and Ohex, but I never heard of this HexGui before. Could you please provide a link? It would be great if you would add this link to the BGG Hex page. At any rate, if it accepts standard SGF notation for Hex, you should be able to put carriage returns in the text and HexGui should still read the file.

Thread: Re: The progress of a Hex player (move list + analysis)

Friendless — 2008-04-14T23:54:34+00:00

vintermann, could you please break up the last line? It's making your article wider than my computer screen :-(.

Thread: The progress of a Hex player (move list + analysis)

vintermann — 2008-04-14T17:38:47+00:00

Yeah, I realize posting session reports about your plays against the computer
is a pretty sad thing to do. Yet, since I always forget to ask permission to
post reports from my games against humans, I suppose it will do for this time.
Look at it as evidence that it's possible to get better at this game

I try to save records of all my Six games, meaning to go back and analyze them
later. There are 150 of them now, 116 losses and 34 wins. In addition, I have
played 50 at iggamecenter.com and 16 at boardspace.net.

And now, I've beaten Six on advanced level for the first time.

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(Click on the image to see it in full size, with move numbers visible)

1. B1
Six's opening move was one it always will refuse to swap, and that is probably a
reasonable decision. Unlike it's cousin A2, it rarely comes to use as a ladder
escape.

2. F6
I let him keep it, and went for the centre. Often it is good to make a more subtle
reply, but this time I felt that the first move was generous enough that it didn't
warrant adapting to this early.

3. D7
4. E5
A very common block in 11x11. It's not too direct, but forces play towards the
corner where black has some influence.

5. C6
Black yields another row. I'm not so strong on openings, really (which means I'm
not so strong at Hex!), so I'm not too sure what is best, this or defending more
directly with D5.

6. C3
The attack proper begins. This threatens to connect with D4, but blocking that
would only turn it into a ladder that is probably favourable to White. Black has
to start attacking my upper connection.

7. G6
8. H4
9. F4
Fighting for the top corner, it's two fronts for both of us: The direct
connection, and the ladder that black can force (but which would currently be
favourable to white).

10. D8
The last move was a little tricky, so I tried to see what could be done on the
other front. Black then must decide: Will he connect to his upper side, or is the
threat to the lower side connection strong enough to warrant a reply? D8 might not
seem too serious, but I'm pretty certain Black made the wrong reply here:

11. G5
He chose to grab the upper side connection. I wonder if F8 would not have been a
better choice. Well, if he won't take it, I will.

12. F8
Now black is in trouble. He has two upper side connections, one secure at F4 and
one potential at D4, and white has attacked both of them in a rather inexpensive
manner. Seen from the other side, white has two lower side connections, D8 and C3.
Although neither of these are secured, they are better balanced than black's two
connections, and they help each other nicely, as we shall see.

13. F7
14. F9
Black has little choice but to push his strongest connection toward it's
unconnected side. I could prevent the ladder from forming altogether, but I have
to make an attempt at my own upper side. F9 prevents the potential ladder from
going into threatening territory, together with F8 it is also ready to make a
strong attempt at the upper side. I count on black not being able to make any
double connection threats - it would have to be combined with the onethrough D7,
C6, and that is not much of a threat.

15. B10
Still, he made a brave attempt.

16. C9
Now his strong connection can't connect to it through the ladder. He has to try
through D7, C6.

17. B9
18. C8
He realizes that is not going to work.

19. E8
20. D10
21. E10
22. E9
23. C10
24. D9
Black forces some connections to grab a potential ladder escape at E10. Why he
bothered with C10 I have no idea.

25. I8
Because of the ladder escape he just planted, I8 is in fact safely connected to
the bottom side. It also threatens to connect to the upper side through H7, and
possibly through a very weak ladder threat on the K row. However, now F8 F9 comes
to their right, launching a classic "mouth" attack:

26. H8
27. G9
28. G8
When I think about it, that "mouth" was probably unnecessary, and H7 would have
worked just as well. Anyway, black saw it coming, and made a rather pointless
forcing move.

29. B8
30. C7
31. B7
If you wondered after move 18 why it wouldn't work, you can see it now, as black
forces the connection. If white only had D6 to escape through, black would have
won, but white also has E7, so E5 is already connected.

32. D4
33. C4
34. D3
35. E4
36. D5
37. D6
38. E7
39. F5
40. E6
41. B4
42. B3
Forcing moves which earn black very little.

43. I7
44. H6
Finally, the mouth has appeared - although dented by a forcing already. I kind of
understand what the Go players mean about "beauty of omission" and all that, but
since 11x11 Hex is a so much shorter game, it doesn't really matter, I suppose.
The computer's tendency to force connections in random order does make games
slightly harder to memorize, though.

45. I5
46. I6
47. K5
48. J5
Connecting in the end for white was just a matter of using the H4 piece
efficiently.

49. Resign
At this point black resigned: K4 would be answered with J3, safely connected
through H5 and J4.

EDIT: Added linebreaks. In firefox, the size 3 text really appeared as size 3, but in konqueror it is much bigger. Lines in the text also are not broken. Since konqueror is the more standards compliant of the two...

If you want to have a look at the game in HexGui, here is the contents of the .shf
file. Paste it into an empty file (and call it something
like "vintermann-review.shf") to create a file HexGui can load.

(;FF[4]GM[Hex]SZ[11];B[b1];W[f6];B[d7];W[e5];B[c6];W[c3];B[g6];
W[h4];B[f4];W[d8];B[g5];W[f8];B[f7];W[f9];B[b10];W[c9];B[b9];W[c8];
B[e8];W[d10];B[e10];W[e9];B[c10];W[d9];B[i8];W[h8];B[g9];W[g8];B[b8];
W[c7];B[b7];W[d4];B[c4];W[d3];B[e4];W[d5];B[d6];W[e7];B[f5];W[e6];
B[b4];W[b3];B[i7];W[h6];B[i5];W[i6];B[k5];W[j5])

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

milomilo122 — 2008-04-11T21:38:56+00:00

Agreed that crossway is as close as any game will ever come to square-grid Hex.

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

MarkSteere — 2008-04-08T18:35:37+00:00

twixter wrote:
I just discovered, on the Gamerz server, a connection game on a square grid which might be what you are looking for: Crossway. The rules are at http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/crossway.html This one is by Mark Steere, another prolific inventor.

Good to see that David Bush, Twixt player extraordinaire, has discovered Crossway.

Jared, what you call forced I call technically specific. The goal is to preclude any possibility of misinterpretation. Just saying lines can't cross doesn't cut it, not by a long shot.

When I designed/invented/discovered Crossway I went to announce it on rec.games.abstract as an adaptation of Hex to a Go board and what did I see? An announcement of Hex adapted to a Go board from Bill Taylor from, if I recall, a day or two earlier. That sucked. Fortunately I discovered that Bill missed the mark (IMO - sorry Bill) with Quadrex and his other two attempts to adapt Hex to a Go board. The automatic chain reaction mechanism isn't real Hex-like. Crossway is and will remain the only true adaptation of Hex to a Go board. It's not as simple as Hex but it's as close as you're ever going to get on a square grid. No game design is as elegant as Hex, but Crossway arguably has a richer gameplay. There are 8 directions of connectivity instead of just 6 which facilitates more tactical possibilities.

Nick, Go is a total kludge. It's based on a simple, fundamental mechanism so it has to exist and it has to be ancient, but it's a kludge. They call Go a "minute to learn" game... lol. Of course there's the Tromp-Taylor rule set for finishing Go, but according to the authors, using only the core rule set will lead to inconvenience and impatience when played on a real board. The recommended, extended rule set is incomprehensible, at least to me. There's no easy way out here, except perhaps single capture Go. I'd rather play Go as it is though, with all of its faults, than a neat and tidy Go variant.

Go is not the perfect game. Tanbo is the perfect game.

-Mark

Thread: Re: Did we miss something

milomilo122 — 2008-03-21T07:25:53+00:00

And if you really want to understand what it's about, read the book "Hex Strategy: Making the Right Connections", by Browne.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14369

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

davidmilne — 2008-03-19T17:09:14+00:00

Talking about a Go variant of a square grid connection game. There is one. It is called Gonnect. The rules are very similar to Go, but you win by connecting any pair of opposite sides with your pieces of your colour. One big difference from Go is that you cannot pass. Eventually if you run out of moves you have to fill in your eyes and you lose your group. If you cannot move you also lose. These mechanisms overcome the square grid impass problem.

As people experiment they are finding more and more ways of playing connecting games on a square grid. But none of them quite equal hex for simplicity of rules.

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

milomilo122 — 2008-03-19T17:04:32+00:00

Another square grid connection game, which solves the problem in a completely different way, is Gonnect. Perhaps more impure than you're looking for since it involves a capture rule, but since some consider it one of the best modern abstract games, I thought it worth mentioning.

It's a straight up combination of Hex and Go, and it preserves tactics and strategies from both, which is rather amazing in my opinion.

Although people are prone to calling Go a perfect game, I get annoyed at its kludgy endgame and scoring rules (don't shoot me!). Gonnect fixes it. Because it's a deep abstract it might never catch on, but it really deserves to.

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

vintermann — 2008-03-19T16:13:01+00:00

Yes, cascades must be allowed, otherwise deadlocks can occur, as far as I can see. Crossway was invented in June 2007. Looks like Quadrex was a month earlier at least, since it was on Rognlie's play-by-email server from May.

I wonder what a Go variant with the Quadrex completion rule would feel like.

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

twixter — 2008-03-19T15:08:09+00:00

vintermann wrote:
jaredhayter wrote:
Interesting although the no checkerboard rule feels forced. I wonder how it would be different to just say that no line can cross another.

If you think so, perhaps you'll prefer Bill Taylor's Quadrex. It's identical to Crossway, except when a checkerboard pattern threatens to form (three pieces are in place) the fourth is automatically filled with the color that prevents the checkerboard. Diagonal connections aren't necessary in this game.

That raises some questions as well.

First of all, can cascade placements happen? If a black stone were placed at A in the above image, would that result in four more black stones automatically added beneath it?

Secondly, just to be clear, if a black stone were placed at A, would a white stone automatically be placed at B?

I also wonder which of these games was invented first.

Thread: Re: Balancing the game without the pie rule

vintermann — 2008-03-06T12:26:18+00:00

As you've said here, it's really a completely different game if you do that. But there IS another way to balance Hex without the swap rule. A rather obvious one, in fact, used by many early players and implemented in some simple applets. For some reason it is not much talked about.
It's simply to restrict where the first piece can be placed. From playing with the swap rule we know roughly which starting positions make for an even game. Just highlight those positions, and say that the first move has to be on one of them.

The nice thing about this approach is that it can be extended to give Hex something else it sorely needs: a handicap system. By extending the number of (good) legal positions for the first piece, you can balance the game somewhat between unequal opponents.

The downside is that we would have to work out empirically (and agree on!) how much of an advantage various starting positions give - and do it again for each common board size. But IMO, for increasing the pool of challenging players, it's definitively worth it.

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

vintermann — 2008-03-06T12:09:49+00:00

jaredhayter wrote:
Interesting although the no checkerboard rule feels forced. I wonder how it would be different to just say that no line can cross another.

If you think so, perhaps you'll prefer Bill Taylor's Quadrex. It's identical to Crossway, except when a checkerboard pattern threatens to form (three pieces are in place) the fourth is automatically filled with the color that prevents the checkerboard. Diagonal connections aren't necessary in this game.

Thread: Re: what are the popular board sizes?

Friendless — 2008-02-23T12:07:20+00:00

As it turned out 11x11 is about the biggest size that fits on the screen without some rework.

My game is now on Facebook:

http://apps.facebook.com/hexgame/

Thread: Re: what are the popular board sizes?

vintermann — 2008-02-23T10:53:28+00:00

I'm inclined to say 11x11 myself, but 10x10 is very popular on some servers. Smaller boards can also be very educational (I think people learn the basics, most importantly that Hex isn't a race, faster on a small board).
Suggestion: Allow everything from 5x5 to 19x19, but mark 11 and 14 as the standard sizes (advocated by Hein and Nash respectively).

Thread: Re: Did we miss something

vintermann — 2008-02-23T10:42:40+00:00

A lot of games between beginners at places like iggamecenter.com look like races, but races really can't occur in Hex! Reaching your own goal is the same as blocking your opponent, so there is never a race to reach your goal. Even so-called ladder conditions are a perpetual fight back and forth rather than a race.

(There are some connection games that DO have races, such as Chameleon or Havannah. They play really differently, if you try them you may appreciate the difference).

I suggest you learn a couple of basic tactics. Only the very simplest, to get you started (I'm not trying to get you to overinvest in a game you may not like!):

Bridges - Two pieces that can be connected in two different ways are said to have a bridge between them. If the opponent takes one of them, you take the other and reestablish the connection. When this happens your opponent is said to "force" the bridge.

Edge templates - at certain times, when you are near an edge where the opponent has few pieces, you can guarantee a connection even from three, four or five lines away. Learn the ones for three, they are just two, and very easy to spot once you know them.

http://hexwiki.org/index.php?title=Edge_templates_with_one_s...

Ladders and ladder breakers - often situations occur where your opponent has blocked you, but you can keep making threats that can only be answered by one (or very few) moves. If you get the advantage of a piece, you can jump ahead of the ladder and connect. One of the easiest ways to do this is to force one of your opponent's bridges ahead of the ladder. He has to save the bridge, and then you can use that piece to win the ladder.

Thread: Re: Did we miss something

Talisinbear — 2008-02-22T01:10:38+00:00

yes I realize the concept, I just find is hoooo-hum

Thread: Re: Did we miss something

rri1 — 2008-02-22T01:06:16+00:00

You DO realize that white and black are trying to connect different pairs of sides:

[c]
WHITE
_________________

BLACK

BLACK
________________

WHITE
[/c]

Thread: Re: Did we miss something

twixter — 2008-02-19T16:29:20+00:00

If you found it boring, that's your judgment, but a race game? Hex is a blocking game not a race. The only way to win is to block your opponent. That part of your race where your path and your opponent's path intersect, that's where the interesting part is. Between good players, the conflict can spread out over most of the board. If you have your opponent's path blocked, it doesn't matter how far ahead in "the race" they might be, since their path can never be completed.

Thread: Re: Did we miss something

drunkenKOALA — 2008-02-16T23:45:41+00:00

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/125572

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/170558

Thread: Re: Did we miss something

GeoMan — 2008-02-16T23:31:26+00:00

Talisinbear wrote:
Did we miss something ?

Yes. HEX is a game of good connections. Read about the basics here:

http://www.mazeworks.com/hex7/about/basics1.htm

and then here:

http://www.f.kth.se/~rydh/Hex/strategy.html

Thread: Did we miss something

Talisinbear — 2008-02-16T22:57:57+00:00

printed and played first games today

tried 3 games and found it little more than a race acrosds the board. Rather boring.

Did we miss something ?

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

twixter — 2008-02-04T22:51:04+00:00

Well how would what be different? It sounds like two different ways of saying the exact same thing, although your way sounds more confusing. Could you provide an example position where some move would be legal according to your variation and illegal in the standard game, or vice versa?

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

jaredhayter — 2008-02-04T21:20:20+00:00

Interesting although the no checkerboard rule feels forced. I wonder how it would be different to just say that no line can cross another.

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

twixter — 2008-02-04T20:15:42+00:00

I just discovered, on the Gamerz server, a connection game on a square grid which might be what you are looking for: Crossway. The rules are at http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/crossway.html This one is by Mark Steere, another prolific inventor.

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

twixter — 2008-01-24T14:07:56+00:00

I should mention that the book Connection Games, as well as the games Akron and Druid and a host of others, are all authored by the same person, Cameron Browne. He's a very prolific games programmer, and he adds another game to the list available on the Gamerz server (see the above link) about once or more every month it seems. Many of those games get implemented on the Gamerz GUI. Even if you don't like to play turn-based, you might enjoy looking at the graphic display for various games in progress. Here's a link for an Akron game which is just starting at the time I post this. Eventually the game will end and the link won't work anymore:

http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/Akron/Akron.php?379&html

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

russ — 2008-01-24T07:05:46+00:00

What twixter said. Hex grids have connections only through sides, square grids have troublesome ambiguous corner connections. This is also part of why many wargames use a hex grid instead of square grid.

If you say that connections are only through sides, not corners, then Hex on a square grid can easily end in a draw. If you say that connections also work diagonally, then blocking becomes much harder.

There are various square grid connection games that have additional rules tacked on to deal with the corner connection problem. (E.g. a move can be claiming a corner to work only for you.) The book Connection Games is a good resource for such things.

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

twixter — 2008-01-24T01:08:18+00:00

The essential problem with a square grid, as opposed to a grid of hexagons, is that when four squares meet at a single point, there is some ambiguity about whether diagonally adjacent squares are adjacent for the purpose of the game or not. If your path and the opponent's path are allowed to cross each other at such a point and continue on their merry way, the blocking nature of the game is lost. Twixt is perhaps one solution to this dilemma, albeit a rather circuitous one. There are quite a few other connection games that work on a square grid or something close to one. Some are three dimensional, with the idea that the top piece determines who "wins the intersection." Akron and Druid are both implemented on the server at www.gamerz.net which has a GUI for both those games.

There is also "Square Hex," so called because the overall shape of the grid is square, although nowhere are more than three cells adjacent at the same point. You can see a picture of that and other Hex variants at http://www.geocities.com/twixtplayer/hexvar2.html

Thread: Re: Square grid connection game?

NateStraight — 2008-01-24T00:29:48+00:00

Twixt is a connection game with a square grid, though it's played a bit different. The differences in gameplay with a square grid connection game are pretty much required, though, as a game played on a square grid by Hex's rules would almost surely end in a draw every time. The charm, and tension, of Hex is that there is no possibility of a draw, but that depends on the topography of the hex-grid.

Thread: Square grid connection game?

jaredhayter — 2008-01-24T00:14:50+00:00

Is there an obvious reason why connection games like Hex don't work on a square grid? Is there in fact a square analog to Hex of which I am unaware? Thanks for the info.

Thread: Re: Now on Facebook

Friendless — 2007-12-29T06:53:00+00:00

Thanks Stephen, I've tried to change the code to cope with that.

Thread: Re: Now on Facebook

swaits — 2007-12-29T03:42:24+00:00

Tried to add the app and got this:

[c]MOD_PYTHON ERROR

[Snip]...[/c]

edit: The error seems to be gone now.

Thread: Now on Facebook

Friendless — 2007-12-29T03:11:41+00:00

I've taken the plunge and released my Hex implementation on Facebook.

http://apps.facebook.com/hexgame/

Please let me know if you find any bugs or other inadequacies.

Thread: Re: Report & Puzzle from my very first win against Six

drunkenKOALA — 2007-12-29T02:07:59+00:00

B10
C9
E8

Image

gmoralesor — 2007-12-12T11:48:57+00:00

Homemade Hex Board

Thread: Re: Report & Puzzle from my very first win against Six

vintermann — 2007-11-08T20:23:25+00:00

Of course I'll keep playing :-) I'll post a new session report when I win against Six on intermediate level - it may be a while!

I plan to do more session reports on abstracts with moves. One thing is that people have been asking for it, but I think one can learn a lot by trying to tell the game as a story. Even if it should turn out to be a very dull one!

This was supposed to be a session report by the way, but I suppose accidentally filing it under strategy wasn't the worst I could have done.

Thread: Re: Report & Puzzle from my very first win against Six

twixter — 2007-11-08T19:43:57+00:00

I'm always glad to see a session report which includes the actual moves. For those unfamiliar with Six, it's probably the strongest current Hex playing software, a little bit stronger than Hexy. Six is available for Linux or Unix systems, although you may have to compile it if you don't have an Intel machine.

It should be mentioned that the default grid size is 11x11, which is the size used here. Six supports up to 14x14 I believe. A1 is an acute corner, black moves first, and rows 1 and 11 are black's border rows. But you can see all this if you click on the image.

Not swapping was the right choice I believe. 1.B1 looks way too weak. Some popular opening moves for 11x11 are A2, B2, A3, H2, or i2.

Of course J6? was horrible. K6 was the only chance for black. You were completely winning after that.

Congratulations, and I hope you keep playing!

Thread: Report & Puzzle from my very first win against Six

vintermann — 2007-11-08T14:26:01+00:00

Direct strategies aren't supposed to work in Hex. Yet, at my level, it seemed direct strategies always worked against me. In this session (the very first I won against Six - at easiest difficulty level, but nonetheless) I tried to carefully apply some direct strategies myself.

I let Six make the first move
1. B1

... and decided not to swap. I play white, Six plays black.

1 .. F6
2. D7

Not the "classic defense" and not the tricky E11 either. How is that supposed to block me? I'll just take the other way. It's direct, but haven't I lost many times this way myself?

2 .. E5
3. C6 D4

Go on. As far as I can see, if he continues down this path, I connect to my A-side.

4. I4

Ah, it seems he agrees with me on that. A strange feeling: Did black really just give up blocking D4's path to my A-side? Well, I won't risk wasting a move securing something that doesn't need securing! Since the headstrong approach worked so well for that side, let's try it on the other also.

4. .. G7
5. I6

Hmm, less clear-cut there. Or is it? Why not just try another bridge?

5. .. H8
6. I8 I7

In retrospect, that last move of mine was just not right. My new piece at I7 does not have an edge template! He can just block at K6. OK, that would give me the opportunity to start some laddering, but I can't see what good that does me.

7. C4

Surprise! Suddenly my connection to the A-side is interesting to black again. Perhaps not so odd, since on closer look my piece at D4 isn't part of any edge template I know of. But I can't give it up. Straightforward approach had served me well so far, so I played

7 .. C5
8. J6

Now we're back on the K side again, but black did not play the expected K6! He played J6 instead?! How silly, now I definitively have my edge template (simplest sort!):

7. .. J7

Then, for some reason, black starts forcing my bridges one by one:

9. F7 G6
10. F5 E6
11. G8 H7
12. E4 D5
13. A6

Ah! On the A side, black does the expected block. Well, what can I do? Laddering into black's starting piece at B1 doesn't seem like a good idea, so we try the other way (there's a trick I've read about that I want to try...)

13. .. B6
14. A7 B7
15. A8 B8
16. Black resigns! Wow. I don't know if I could have pulled off the trick I mentioned, but Six apparently thought so.

Looking back on the game for this session report, my win seems a little hollow. There were so many places black made odd moves, and perhaps that's not so surprising since it's at easiest difficulty level - but it's defeated me at least twenty times, after all.

Now for the puzzle: Why did black resign? What threat could I make on my next move that no possible move of his could defend against?

Image

Oersted — 2007-07-26T16:06:04+00:00

An improvised pencil-and-paper Hex during the cofee break

Image

Friendless — 2007-05-16T01:07:10+00:00

Print and play game board

Image

jgroenen — 2007-01-27T01:18:03+00:00

my homemade hex board

Image

Pionek — 2006-12-10T15:36:38+00:00

Image

Pionek — 2006-12-10T14:14:49+00:00