Hex Strategy: Making the Right Connections (AK Peters/CRC Recreational Mathematics Series)

Hex is a deterministic, zero-sum, abstract board game. If you know what this means, and appreciate such games, then you will find the game irresistible. The rules are so simple that you can "see" far down the strategy tree. Draws are impossible. Hex was invented independently by two eminent mathematicians, Piet Hein and Nobel Prize winner John Nash (the latter of _A Beautiful Mind_ fame). The feel of competition that this game provides is intense; one player compared it to a "knife fight in a phone booth." The game demands your best efforts, and rewards them. If you are talented mathematically, there are chapters which deal with the game in a way that appeals. If not, you will still love to study how the book progresses from the simplest templates to tactics to overall strategy. Annotated games are given, as well as quizzes and problems. Game of expert play are taken from the internet. Hex programs are dicussed. There is a rich treatment of the variants and offshoots of the basic game, although perhaps basic 11 x 11 hex is probably still the best of the bunch. The author creates a rich vocabulary to describe the different aspects of the game, and while the reader may have to slow his reading occasionally and ponder, he will find everything in its proper order and will find that everything makes sense. I found a useful colection of blank boards of different sizes at the back of the book which I photocopied to make studies of the games I have now in progress on the net, and thereby explore the different possible avenues of play by using pencil-and-paper diagrams. Anyone who enjoys abstract games such as chess and go will be cheating himself by not exploring the richness of this book, and the richness and challenge of this game. There are a few typos here and there, but relatively few, and not very distracting.

The youngest Hex player I know was less than 4 years old at the time. So I advise this book, not only to those who (like me) want to play better at Hex, but also to those who (like me) want to play against a very young player, wiz knowing how to loose (everybody who know young children know what I mean).

Hex has very simple rules but is more profound than chess. The writers make a good effort to explain the basic strategies and go more into detail about best play. A knowledge of these principles will increase the playing level of any Hex player. Up to date, this is the best Hex reference.

Very thorough!

This book is a good start for beginners at the game. It could have used some editing to eliminate the typos and garbled strings of play. Some of the annotated games and puzzles leave one a little short as to why the game or puzzle is now won or solved. At least we learned about bridges, ladders, templates, etc., so it's worth having.

Being hex rules so simple, there are only 2 possibilities. Either you never heard about hex or you know how to play it. In the first case there are good odds that you can like this book,especially if you like games such as chess or checkers. But in the second, this book is a must. There is everything about this wondeful game, from strategy to historic notes, from variants to computer-play and algorithms, from sample games to a great reference section. So this is THE hex book.