Editing Hex (board game) (section)

==Strategy==
{{Expand section|1=general strategy and typical endgames|section=1|date=November 2023|small=no|talksection=Talk:Hex_(board_game)#Strategy_section,_redux}}

From the proof of a winning strategy for the first player, it is known that the Hex board must have a complex type of connectivity which has never been solved. Play consists of creating small patterns which have a simpler type of connectivity called "safely connected", and joining them into sequences that form a "path". Eventually, one of the players will succeed in forming a safely connected path of stones and spaces between their sides of the board and win.  The final stage of the game, if necessary, consists of filling in the empty spaces in the path.<ref name="Browne p">Browne p.</ref>

[[Image:Hex situation bridge.svg|thumb|right|A "bridge" (A ↔ C) is a simple example of a safely connected pattern. It consists of two stones of the same color (A and C), and a pair of open spaces (B and D).]]

A "safely connected" pattern is composed of stones of the player's color and open spaces which can be joined into a chain, an unbroken sequence of edge-wise adjacent stones, no matter how the opponent plays.<ref>Browne, p.28</ref> One of the simplest such patterns is the bridge, which consists of a diamond of two stones of the same color and two empty spaces, where the two stones do not touch.<ref>Browne, pp. 29–30</ref> If the opponent plays in either space, the player plays in the other, creating a contiguous chain.  There are also safely connected patterns which connect stones to edges.<ref>Browne, pp. 71–77</ref> There are many more safely connected patterns, some quite complex, built up of simpler ones like those shown. Patterns and paths can be disrupted by the opponent before they are complete, so the configuration of the board during an actual game often looks like a patchwork rather than something planned or designed.<ref name="Browne p"/>

There are weaker types of connectivity than "safely connected" which exist between stones or between safely connected patterns which have multiple spaces between them.<ref name="Browne, p">Browne, p.</ref> The middle part of the game consists of creating a network of such weakly connected stones and patterns<ref name="Browne, p"/> which hopefully will allow the player, by filling in the weak links, to construct just one safely connected path between sides as the game progresses.<ref name="Browne, p"/>

Success at Hex requires a particular ability to visualize synthesis of complex patterns in a heuristic way, and estimating whether such patterns are 'strongly enough' connected to enable an eventual win.<ref name="Browne p"/> The skill is somewhat similar to the visualization of patterns, sequencing of moves, and evaluating of positions in chess.<ref>Lasker, p.</ref>