A game with no draws
Hex is one of the cleanest connection games there is. Stones never move, nothing is captured, and the board can't fill up without one side linking its edges. That means every stone you place is either helping your chain or getting in the way of the computer's. There is no neutral move. On this site you play red, you move first, and you're trying to join the top edge to the bottom edge while blue joins left to right.
Because you always start, you hold the first-move advantage. Use it. A stone in or near the centre of the board touches the most routes to both of your edges, and it gets in the way of blue's routes at the same time.
Think in links, not lines
New players often build a solid wall of touching stones. It is safe, but slow. Blue only needs one stone in front of it to make you go around. Faster chains are made of links the opponent can't cut.
- The bridge. Two of your stones that share two empty neighbouring cells are as good as connected. If blue takes one of the pair, you take the other. A chain of bridges moves twice as fast as a chain of touching stones.
- Edge links. A stone on the second row from your edge, with both cells below it empty, already reaches the edge. Blue can take one, and you take the other. A stone on the third row can also reach the edge if a wider patch in front of it is empty, but that patch is easier to disturb.
- Block from a distance. Placing your stone right next to the tip of blue's chain rarely stops it. Blue simply steps around. A stone two or three cells ahead, in the path blue needs, is far harder to get around.
A short worked example
Take the 7 by 7 board on Easy. You open in the centre cell. Blue answers beside your stone, trying to start its left-to-right route. Instead of pushing straight down one cell at a time, make a bridge toward the bottom: a stone two rows down and slightly to the side, so the two share a pair of empty cells. Do the same toward the top. With three stones you now cover most of the board's height. Blue has to break a bridge to stop you, and each time it tries, you fill the other cell. When your end stones reach the second row from each edge, you're connected even though the chain still has gaps.
Habits that lose games
- Playing on your own edge early. A stone on the edge row does almost nothing. Edge links let you reach it later for free.
- Answering every blue stone next door. Ask where blue's chain is going, not where it is. Block ahead of it.
- Ignoring a ladder. If blue pushes you along the second row and you keep answering one cell at a time, you're in a ladder. It ends badly unless one of your stones already waits further along that row. Spot ladders early and either avoid them or place that stone in advance.
- Breaking your own bridge. When blue takes one cell of a bridge, answer at once. Leaving it for a "better" move lets blue cut through.
Climbing the three boards
Each difficulty is a different board size, so the levels teach different things. Easy is 7 by 7, where tactics decide most games. Get used to bridges and to answering cuts right away. Medium is 9 by 9. The computer looks a little further ahead, and edge links and blocking from a distance begin to matter. Hard is 11 by 11, the size many players treat as the standard board. Long chains of bridges, ladders and careful edge play decide the game there.
A good habit at every size: before you place a stone, trace your best route from edge to edge, then trace blue's. If a single cell lies on both, it is usually your move.
