HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A connection game is a type of
abstract strategy game Abstract strategy games admit a number of definitions which distinguish these from strategy games in general, mostly involving no or minimal narrative theme, outcomes determined only by player choice (with no randomness), and perfect information. ...
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. Connection games typically have simple rules, but complex strategies. They have minimal components and may be played as board games, computer games, or even
paper-and-pencil game Paper-and-pencil games or paper-and-pen games (or some variation on those terms) are games that can be played solely with paper and pencils (or other writing implements), usually without erasing. They may be played to pass the time, as icebreak ...
s. 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 TwixT is a two-player Abstract strategy game, strategy board game, an early entrant in the 1960s 3M bookshelf game series. It became one of the most popular and enduring games in the series. It is a connection game where players alternate tu ...
, and ''
PÜNCT ''PÜNCT'' is a two-player strategy board game. It is the sixth release in the ''GIPF'' project of seven abstract strategy games, although it is considered the fifth game in the project. It was released in 2005. ''PÜNCT'' won the ''Games Maga ...
'' are typical examples of this type of game.


History

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 predate ''Hex'', including ''Lightning'' (1890s) and ''Zig-Zag'' (1932).
Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...
is credited with popularizing the genre in his writeup of ''Hex'' in ''
Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
'' (1957), expanded and republished in ''Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions'' (1959). 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. In his 1959 book, Gardner also mentions that
Claude Shannon Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American people, American mathematician, electrical engineering, electrical engineer, and cryptography, cryptographer known as a "father of information theory". As a 21-year-o ...
proposed a modified version of ''Hex'' 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. This was a variant of the game ''Y'', which was a generalization of ''Hex'' that had been invented independently by John Milnor, Charles Titus, and Craige Schensted in the early 1950s. ''Hex'' and ''Y'' were examples of games where the players competed to build a path connecting sides of the board. In the June 2000 issue of ''Games'', 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 included ''Gale''/''Bridg-it'' (1958/1960) and ''TwixT'' (1962). Schmittberger also identified a third sub-class where
serpentiles Serpentiles is the name coined by Kurt N. Van Ness for the hexagonal tiles used in various edge-matching puzzle connection abstract strategy games, such as Psyche-Paths, Kaliko, and Tantrix. For each tile, one to three colors are used to draw path ...
with preprinted paths, such as ''Psyche-paths''/''Kaliko'' (1970) and ''Trax'' (1981), were used. In 1984, Larry Back began developing what would become ''Onyx'', a connection game with a capturing mechanic.


Popular connection games


Havannah

Havannah is a two-player
abstract strategy Abstract strategy games admit a number of definitions which distinguish these from strategy games in general, mostly involving no or minimal narrative theme, outcomes determined only by player choice (with no randomness), and perfect information. ...
board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...
invented by
Christian Freeling Christian Freeling (born 1 February 1947, in Enschede, Netherlands) is a Dutch game designer and inventor of abstract strategy games, notably Dameo, Grand Chess, Havannah, and Hexdame. Freeling's designs cover a range of game types. Several of ...
. 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. A ''ring'' is a loop around one or more cells regardless of whether or not the encircled cells are occupied by any player or empty. A ''bridge'' connects any two of the six corner cells of the board. A ''fork'' 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. The game was published for a period in Germany by
Ravensburger Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began ...
, 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.


Hex

Hex is a two player
abstract strategy Abstract strategy games admit a number of definitions which distinguish these from strategy games in general, mostly involving no or minimal narrative theme, outcomes determined only by player choice (with no randomness), and perfect information. ...
board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...
in which players attempt to connect opposite sides of a hexagonal board. Hex was invented by mathematician and poet Piet Hein in 1942 and independently by John Nash in 1948. It is traditionally played on an 11×11
rhombus In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (plural rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The ...
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 the
topology In mathematics, topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformations, such ...
of the game board. The game has deep strategy, sharp tactics and a profound mathematical underpinning related to the
Brouwer fixed-point theorem Brouwer's fixed-point theorem is a fixed-point theorem in topology, named after L. E. J. (Bertus) Brouwer. It states that for any continuous function f mapping a compact convex set to itself there is a point x_0 such that f(x_0)=x_0. The simplest ...
. The game was first marketed as a board game in
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...
under the name Con-tac-tix, and
Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...
marketed a version of it in 1952 called Hex; they are no longer in production. Hex can also be played with paper and pencil on hexagonally ruled
graph paper Graph paper, coordinate paper, grid paper, or squared paper is writing paper that is printed with fine lines making up a regular grid. The lines are often used as guides for plotting graphs of functions or experimental data and drawing curves. I ...
.


Tak

Tak is a two-player
abstract strategy game Abstract strategy games admit a number of definitions which distinguish these from strategy games in general, mostly involving no or minimal narrative theme, outcomes determined only by player choice (with no randomness), and perfect information. ...
designed by
James Ernest James Ernest is an American game designer and juggler, best known as the owner and lead designer of Cheapass Games. Career Prior to founding Cheapass Games, Ernest worked as a juggler at various venues, including Camlann Medieval Village, and a ...
and
Patrick Rothfuss Patrick James Rothfuss (born June 6, 1973) is an American author. He is best known for his duology ''The Kingkiller Chronicle'', which has won him several awards, including the 2007 Quill Award for his debut novel, ''The Name of the Wind''. Its ...
and published by
Cheapass Games Cheapass Games is a game company founded and run by game designer James Ernest, based in Seattle, Washington. Cheapass Games operates on the philosophy that most game owners have plenty of dice, counters, play money, and other common board game ...
in 2016. Its design was based around the fictional game of Tak described in Patrick Rothfuss' 2011 fantasy novel ''
The Wise Man's Fear ''The Wise Man's Fear'' is a fantasy novel written by American author Patrick Rothfuss and the second volume in ''The Kingkiller Chronicle''. It was published on March 1, 2011, by DAW Books. It is the sequel to 2007's ''The Name of the Wind''. ...
''. 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 a
three dimensional Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informa ...
element to the game play absent in other well known connection games, such as hex. 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.


The Game of Y

Y is an
abstract strategy Abstract strategy games admit a number of definitions which distinguish these from strategy games in general, mostly involving no or minimal narrative theme, outcomes determined only by player choice (with no randomness), and perfect information. ...
board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...
, first described by
John Milnor John Willard Milnor (born February 20, 1931) is an American mathematician known for his work in differential topology, algebraic K-theory and low-dimensional holomorphic dynamical systems. Milnor is a distinguished professor at Stony Brook Uni ...
in the early 1950s. 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 by Craige 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.


List of connection games


See also

*
Combinatorial game theory Combinatorial game theory is a branch of mathematics and theoretical computer science that typically studies sequential games with perfect information. Study has been largely confined to two-player games that have a ''position'' that the players ...
*
Mathematical games A mathematical game is a game whose rules, strategies, and outcomes are defined by clear mathematical parameters. Often, such games have simple rules and match procedures, such as Tic-tac-toe and Dots and Boxes. Generally, mathematical games ne ...


References


External links

;Survey of connection games by Dr. Eric Silverman * * * * * * * * Abstract strategy games {{Board-game-stub