- Abstract Strategy
- 2 Player
- 60 minutes
- Ages 8+
Quantum Hex creates a new topology for abstract strategy games. The Quantum Hex boards are a two-dimensional projection of a spherical space that particles can circumnavigate in any direction. Imagine the two Quantum Fields placed back to back and inflated like a ball; this is the game space created for the players.
Energy in the Quantum Hex universe cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. Captured pieces can be returned to the board, preserving the total energy in the system. Nothing is lost: particles simply change state from one player’s control to the other’s, creating a tension between actual and potential field states.
Quantum Hex pieces are inspired by the standard model of particle physics. The elusive Higgs Boson is the center of the game. Quantum Hex pieces, called particles, create new and exciting challenges and strategies for the player from the wide-ranging Photon and ghostly Neutrino to the Gluon and Quark, whose movements are modified by the game space itself.
Click on the link below to view and download the rule book:
Designer’s Notes
The catalyst for Quantum Hex was an inquiry to whether there could be a unique evolution to the abstract strategy game. I always enjoy the elegant, emergent qualities in abstract strategy. Hive was an elegant innovation, where that game space is defined by the pieces themselves. Other innovations like Onitama and The Duke added randomizers to create new game play.
I identified the game space as a possible area to innovate: could I create a space that had no edges? The traditional game space is always bounded by the board. This creates limits, but also certain advantages: any Othello play will tell you that occupying corners leads to a dominant position. Having a background in cartography, I began exploring map projections to understand how space can be represented. This led to the double-board design in Quantum Hex.*
Naturally, with a new game space, I needed to understand its implications for not only play, but also pieces. I knew I wanted to use the idea of players being able to use captured pieces, an innovation from shogi, the traditional Japanese variant of chess, as well as the idea of conservation of energy in the game’s theme. For mechanic of drops to work, pieces cannot be so dominant that their coverage prevents subtle strategy. Having studied shogi, weak pieces, at least in comparison to chess, are the secret of the complex strategy in that game.
The pieces also need intuitive movements. Because of the spherical space, ideas like forward, backward, left, right, or diagonal would have little meaning. I needed to design the space and pieces together. To keep piece movement simple, I grouped piece movement into three categories, with two pieces in each category defined by the extent of the movement, one being limited and the other having a greater degree of freedom. I used the board design to reenforce those movements for the player.
The size of the board area was also an important consideration to create tension. In abstract strategy, large playing spaces with many open positions usually result in slow openings and messy end games. The space in Quantum Hex is tight—you don’t move far before reaching the influence of your opponent, creating tension from almost the first move. The piece design also creates additional space for the player to interact. Because pieces have limited influence, gaps appear that players can exploit in the opponent’s space, particularly with drops.
The quantum theme was chosen for a couple of reasons. Chess can have a very exclusive feel to it, which can put off some players. I wanted to create a game that would invite more people to engage with this type of abstract strategy and so looked for something that would give a different feel from the image of military conflict in chess. I think Hive uses a theme that appeals to a broad audience. I also wanted a game with a science theme (I can think of a few games with a genetics and biology theme, but no physics). Hex references the six-sided boards and the six particles in the game (quarks, incidentally, come in six varieties: up, down, top, bottom, charm, and strange).
The other reason to use the world of particle physics is the very unusual game space and play. Space at sub-atomic scales can deviate from our normal planar experience of it. The standard particle model inspired the pieces. The elusive Higgs boson is central to this model, making the perfect piece to capture as the goal. Photons and neutrinos can travel over large distances, the two most powerful pieces. Additionally, the neutrino is a ghostly particle that passes through space in a unique way. Electrons also move through matter, but under more limited conditions. The gluon represents the strong forces in the standard model, but has limited influence at distance. And Quarks are the basic building blocks in this model. While this game will not teach anyone about quantum mechanics, I felt it provided a perfect metaphor.
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‘ The projection was a complex problem. Choosing a perfect spherical representation resulted in either an unintuitive non-linear game space or a board that would not support pieces as they would have to balance on a board edge.
