Editing TwixT (section)

== Variants ==
[[File:PPrules.png|left|thumb|250px|A contrived position where black to move wins under PP rules, but loses under standard rules.]]

One variant is '''Twixt PP''' ('''P'''aper and '''P'''encil). The rules are almost identical to standard TwixT, except links are never removed and a player's ''own'' links are allowed to cross each other. A winning path might loop across itself but crossed links are not connected to each other at the intersection. The paper and pencil rules may reduce the number of draws (which are already rare). Whether it reduces the complexity of the game or not is highly debatable.

This rules difference has no effect in terms of game outcome most of the time. For those rare situations where it does, most of those cases are where a draw under standard rules is a decisive game under PP rules. The image shows a contrived position where black is to move. Black wins under PP rules but loses under standard rules.

'''Row handicapping''' can be used to equalize the game for players of different strengths. The simplest handicap is to allow the weaker player to move first (i.e. eliminate the pie rule). Beyond that, one dimension of the grid is reduced so the weaker player has a shorter distance to span.

[[File:Diagtwixt.png|right|thumb|250px|A diagonal TwixT board.]]

The game may be played on '''different size grids'''. The 12×12 board shown here leads to a very short game. On the standard board, tactics dominate; larger boards introduce deeper strategic considerations. Since most commercial sets use boards which are made from four "quadrants" which either clip together or are hinged, a 36×36 grid could be assembled from three standard sets of the same size. In Europe, there briefly appeared a TwixT knock-off called "Imuri" which used a 30×30 grid. The board had no holes, and lines were drawn to indicate where the links could be placed. This edition was removed from shelves for copyright infringement.

Mark Thompson's variant '''Diagonal TwixT''' has the same rules as standard TwixT, but the border lines run at a 45-degree angle to the grid.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://home.flash.net/~markthom/html/twixt.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110509190404/http://home.flash.net/~markthom/html/twixt.html |archive-date=2011-05-09 <!-- most recent copy available --> |title=Mark Thompson's TwixT webpage}}</ref> David Bush's version has the border lines running parallel to link paths. These variants result in different tactical patterns.