Connection game

A connection game is a game where the goal is to use the pieces to create a connection between some parts of the board. The first connection game was Hex, which was invented in 1942. Several others have been created since then.

Timeline

Hex (Piet Hein 1942 and John Nash 1948)

The original connection game. Played on a rhombic hex grid.

Y (John Milnor 1950s, Craige Schensted and Charles Titus 1953)

Played on a triangluar grid of hexagons

Twixt (Alex Randolph, 1960s)

Played on a square grid of holes into which the players place pegs. The pegs can be connected via bridges; a bridge connects two holes that are separated by a knight's move.

Havannah (Christian Freeling, 1980)

Multiple goals, two connection-oriented and one shape-oriented.

Quax (Bill Taylor?, 2000?)

Played on a square grid with the possibility of diagonal connections.

Onyx (Larry Back, 2000)

Played on an original grid consisting of both triangles and squares. It is the first connection game with a capturing rule.

Gonnect (João Pedro Neto, 2000)

This game is simply Go, but with a different goal, namely to create a connection between any two opposite sides.

Unlur (Jorge Gómez Arrausi, 2001)

Played on a hexagonal hex grid. Unique in the way that the players have different objectives.

Bridg-It (David Gale, ca. 1958)

Played on an interlaced square board.

MindNinja (Nicholas Bentley, 2006)

Generalized game of shape-building and connection, where board and win conditions are decided with help of a pie rule.

Atoll (Mark Steere, 2008)

A generalization of Hex to boards with four or more perimeter segments. With four segments, it is identical to Hex.

See the rule sheet for more information.

References

Cameron Browne, "Connection Games: Variations on a Theme"