Rules — Hexaequo
Hexaequo is played on a board that does not exist yet: the players build it as they go, one tile at a time.
Winning
You win the moment any one of these is true at the end of your turn:
- you have captured six enemy disks;
- you have captured three enemy rings;
- your opponent has no piece left on the board — even if pieces remain in their reserve.
Material
Each player owns 9 tiles, 6 disks and 3 rings in their colour. Black moves first.
Setup
The two black tiles and the two white tiles are laid against each other in a compact block of four. A disk sits on each of the two opposite tiles of that block — the only pair that do not touch — each on a tile of its own colour. Those pieces come out of the reserves, so each player starts the game holding 7 tiles and 5 disks.
The opening position. Black's disk is top right, White's is bottom left; the two tiles carrying them are the only ones in the block that are not neighbours.
Your turn
On your turn you must carry out exactly one of three actions: lay a tile, place a piece, or move a piece. Passing is not allowed, and whatever you do must change the position.
Laying a tile
Take a tile from your reserve and lay it on any empty cell that touches at least two tiles already on the board. The colours of those neighbours do not matter — only how many there are.
The dashed cells each touch two existing tiles, so any of them may take a tile. The cell marked in red touches only one, so it may not.
Placing a piece
Take a disk or a ring from your reserve and place it on an empty tile of your own colour. Placing a ring costs you something extra: you must hand back one enemy disk you have already captured. It returns to your opponent's reserve and no longer counts towards your total of six.
Black may place on either empty black tile, never on a white one. The ring is only available once Black holds at least one captured white disk to give back.
Moving a disk
A disk does one of two things. It either takes one step onto an adjacent empty tile, or it makes a chain of one or more jumps. A jump crosses one adjacent occupied tile — friendly or enemy — and lands on the next tile in the same straight line, which must exist and be empty. Every enemy piece crossed is captured and taken off at once; friendly pieces crossed are simply flown over. You may stop after any jump in the chain.
Black jumps the white disk and lands on the empty tile beyond it, capturing as it passes. A second jump is available from there, and Black may take it or stop.
One restriction keeps chains finite: within a single chain a disk may not land again on a cell it has already occupied since its last capture. Hopping back and forth over friendly pieces is therefore impossible, while a genuine capturing chain that loops back to its starting cell remains legal.
Moving a ring
A ring makes one leap, of exactly two tiles' distance — twelve possible destinations on a full board. Nothing can block it: the cell it passes over may hold any piece, or may not even hold a tile. If an enemy piece stands on the arrival tile, it is captured. A ring may never finish on a piece of its own colour.
All twelve cells at distance two from the ring. It may leap onto any of them that carries a tile, capturing an enemy piece there.
Points that are easy to get wrong
- Tile colour only restricts placement. A piece that moves may finish on any empty tile, whatever its colour.
- Captured pieces leave the game, with one exception: a disk handed back to pay for a ring. Captured rings never come back.
- A jump is not compulsory. You may play a quiet move even when a capture is on offer.
- The board tops out at 18 tiles, nine from each player.
ExAequo
The game is a draw — ExAequo — if the player to move has no legal move at all, or if the same position occurs three times.