Editing Hex (board game) (section)

{{Short description|Abstract strategy board game}}
{{About|the abstract strategy game|other uses|Hex game (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox game
| title         = Hex
| subject_name  = Hex
| image_link    = Hex-board-11x11-(2).svg
| image_caption = 11×11 Hex gameboard showing a winning configuration for Blue
| years         = 1942–present
| genre         = [[Board game]]<br />[[Abstract strategy game]]<br />[[Connection game]]
| players       = 2
| setup_time    = None
| playing_time  = 30 minutes – 2 hours (11×11 board)
| random_chance = None
| skills        = [[Strategy game|Strategy]], tactics
}}

'''Hex''' (also called '''Nash''') is a two player [[Abstract strategy game|abstract strategy]] [[board game]] in which players attempt to connect opposite sides of a rhombus-shaped [[Hex map|board made of hexagonal cells]]. Hex was invented by mathematician and poet [[Piet Hein (scientist)|Piet Hein]] in 1942 and later rediscovered and popularized by [[John Forbes Nash Jr.|John Nash]].

It is traditionally played on an 11×11 [[rhombus]] board, although 13×13 and 19×19 boards are also popular. The board is composed of hexagons called ''cells'' or ''hexes''. Each player is assigned a pair of opposite sides of the board, which they must try to connect by alternately placing a stone of their color onto any empty hex. Once placed, the stones are never 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]] of the game board.

Despite the simplicity of its rules, the game has deep strategy and sharp tactics. It also has profound mathematical underpinnings related to the [[Brouwer fixed-point theorem]], [[matroids]] and [[graph connectivity]]. The game was first published under the name '''Polygon''' in the Danish newspaper ''Politiken'' on December 26, 1942. It was later marketed as a board game in [[Denmark]] under the name '''Con-tac-tix''', and [[Parker Brothers]] 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.