Simple Hex: A Two-Player Connection Game
Simple Hex is a captivating two-player connection game with straightforward rules, making it easy to learn. Players choose red or blue and take turns coloring empty cells on the board. The objective is to create a connected path of your colored cells linking opposite sides of the board. The first player to complete this connection wins.
The game offers three modes: Play with AI, Play with Friend, and Pass & Play. The AI mode provides three difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard), and the AI can play first or second. Alternatively, "Play with Friend" allows two players on separate devices, and "Pass & Play" enables local multiplayer on a single device.
While easy to grasp, Simple Hex offers a challenging strategic depth. An undo button lets you retract your last move(s) – though this feature is not yet available in AI mode.
To balance the inherent first-player advantage, a "Steal Move" option allows the second player to switch places with the first player after the first move. This forces the first player to consider moves that avoid an immediate loss. This option is also unavailable in AI mode.
Three board sizes (7x7, 9x9, and 11x11) are included to provide a gradual increase in complexity.
Learn more about Hex at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_(board_game)
Acknowledgements: We thank interns Saatvik Inampudi and Shoheb Shaik for their work on performance improvements to the AI algorithm in the first version. The current AI uses a "stable" unbounded best-first minimax game technique. For more details, contact me at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsvemuri/
What's New in Version 0.45 (Last updated Dec 18, 2024):
- The easy difficulty level has been adjusted to be truly easy, and the medium level is now slightly easier.
