MindSports

General Idea
Lox rests on two pillars, the game of Hex and the game of Stigmergy. I was very impressed by the 'control protocol' and its implementation in the latter game, invented in 2021 by Luis Bolaños Mures and Steven Metzger. So I wondered if Luis, with whom I played Stigmergy that moment, had considered using it in Hex. He hadn't, despite the fact that it fits perfectly. It introduces capture in Hex in a very basic way, as the inherent result of the protocol, far more fundamental than its introduction in KnightVision. The result was that we consider this merger of two games a joint invention. Of course there's more to it because Hex was invented by Piet Hein and arguably also by John Forbes Nash. But Hex has acquired the status of a traditional by now.

Play Lox interactively

Definitions Two stones, or a stone and an empty cell, see each other if they lie on the same straight line of adjacent cells and there are no other stones between them along that line. You control a cell if the number of stones of your colour it sees is more than half the number of cells (empty or occupied) adjacent to it.

This means that you

- control a centre cell if it sees 4 or more stones of your colour
- control an edge cell if it sees 3 or more stones of your colour
- control a corner cell if it sees 2 or more stones of your colour

• The game starts on an empty board. Players move in turn to place one stone on an empty cell not controlled by the opponent, or to replace an opponent's stone by a friendly one on a cell they control. Red moves first. The second player is on his first move entitled to a swap.
• If a player on his turn finds a solid cell to cell connection with his pieces between the two edges of his colour, then he has won. It means that any connection made, must outlive the opponent's next turn, a turn in which he can still break it by capture.

Lox © Luis Bolaños Mures, Steven Metzger & MindSports