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Vying Games : Hexxagon

Hexxagon is to Ataxx as hexagon is to square.

That is, where Ataxx is played on a square board, Hexxagon has the same rules applied to a board of hexagons. In fact, the board is both composed of hexagons and shaped like a hexagon.

This description of the rules will be brief and focus mostly on the differences between Hexxagon and Ataxx. So, if you're unfamiliar with either, you'd do well to review the rules for Ataxx.

Hexagon vs Square

First off, because Ataxx has 8-way connectivity and Hexxagon only 6-way connectivity there is less mobility in Hexxagon than in Ataxx.

In Ataxx there are at most 8 splitting moves for each piece
In Hexxagon there are at most 6 splitting moves for each piece
In Ataxx there are at most 16 jumping moves for each piece
In Hexxagon there are at most 12 jumping moves for each piece

Secondly, the most pieces you can infect per move is reduced from 8 in Ataxx to 6 in Hexxagon. This is all common sense, of course. The upshot of all this is that Hexxagon is likely more stable than Ataxx.

Two or Three Players

The most notable difference between Ataxx and Hexxagon is the number of players. In both games players start out with pieces in opposite or alternating corners. Because Hexxagon has 6 corners it lends itself to 2 or 3 player play. The players for a 2-player game are red and blue, for a 3-player game red, blue, and white.

Blocks

As in Ataxx, Hexxagon has randomly placed blocks. Here the blocks are represented with the absence of a hexagon on the board (in Ataxx an 'X' is placed on the board).

The blocks are random, but configured to be fair. This is achieved by reflecting / rotating the same block pattern from one part of the board to the rest of the board. Notice that the possible block configurations depends on whether you play the 2-player or 3-player variant.

In the 2-player game blocks are reflected across an imaginary line drawn vertically through the middle of the board. For the 3-player game, the board is divided into thirds with the same block formation repeated in each 3rd of the board.

Tourneys

Round robin tourneys will be run for either the 2 or 3 player variant. Only the 2-player variant will randomly appear in hexathlon tourneys.

Rated vs Unrated

You may wish to start unrated 3-player games of Hexxagon. In an unrated game, if one of the 3 players becomes unresponsive, you have the option of kicking the player and replacing him/her with someone else or a bot. In a rated game these options don't appear.

Bots

There are two bots for Hexxagon, CapellaBot and VegaBot. If you start a 3-player game with the bots you will have no choice but to play both (the server won't allow the same user to play as multiple players). CapellaBot is very aggressive / greedy, VegaBot is more conservative. You might try changing the order that the bots play in -- is it easier to follow CapellaBot or VegaBot?

Ratings

In the 2-player variant the same exact ELO rating system the rest of the site uses is in effect. For 3 players it's slightly modified but effectively the same. In brief, ELO ratings are based on expected outcomes vs actual outcomes. So, if two 1600 rated players play 10 games, each player is expected to win 5 of those games. If one player wins more, he should be rated higher. If one player is rated higher, it's expected that he should win more than 5 of those games (how many more depends on how much more highly rated he is).

In a 3-player game, if three 1600 rated players sit down for 9 games, we can expect that each player should win 3 games. If one player wins more than that he should be more highly rated. Notice that this player could win only 4 of 9 games and still gain ratings points. To some degree you're expected to lose more because there are more opponents.

Another way to look at it is this: When you win, the points you gain are taken from both losing players. When you lose, the other losing player shares the burden of losing so you won't lose as many points as the winner gains.

Two last points:

It's possible for 2 out of 3 players to win if they both have the highest score. The winning points will be effectively split.
There is no reward for 2nd place. Only the winning player(s) gain points, the other players lose points proportional to their ratings

References

There are far more resources for Ataxx than Hexxagon. Most references to Hexxagon are little more than a mention of it as a variant of Ataxx (unsurprisingly).