DualHex 2026

DualHex is a two-player Hex variant in which every piece has both a colour (White or Black) and a shape (Disc or Cross), giving each player two independent ways to win.

The game is played on a rhombus-shaped Hex board of any size, with four kinds of pieces: White Disc, White Cross, Black Disc and Black Cross. White owns the top and bottom edges, Black the left and right edges.

On each turn, a player chooses two different kinds of pieces out of the four and places one of each on empty cells. Pieces of the opponent's colour may be placed as well. On the very first turn of the game, White places only a single piece: either a White Cross or a Black Disc.

White wins by connecting the top and bottom edges with a chain of White pieces of either shape, or with a chain of Discs of either colour. Black wins by connecting the left and right edges with a chain of Black pieces, or with a chain of Crosses. Wins are checked after every single piece; if one piece completes both players' conditions at once, the player who placed it wins.

As in Hex, the game cannot end in a draw: colour and shape each divide the board into two, so either one alone guarantees that someone connects.

—description from the designer