Leeway 2026

Leeway is a connection game for two players: Black and White. It is played on the intersections (points) of an initially empty square grid (board). The top and bottom edges of the board are colored black; the left and right edges are colored white.

A naked diagonal is a pair of like-colored, diagonally adjacent stones with no other like-colored stone adjacent to both.

Black plays first, then turns alternate. On your turn, place two stones of your color on orthogonally adjacent empty points. Next, remove all other stones that form naked diagonals with the stones you just placed. If this creates more naked diagonals, remove one stone from each, and so on until no naked diagonals remain.

Alternatively, instead of placing two stones, you may place a single stone of your color on an empty point with no orthogonal adjacencies to empty points. No stones are removed in this case.

You win if there is a chain of orthogonally connected stones of your color touching the two opposite board edges of your color. If the position at the end of your turn is the same as the position at the end of any of your previous turns, the game ends in a draw. This is possible in theory, but probably requires colluding players.

To make the game fair, White will have the option, on their first turn only, to swap sides with Black instead of making a regular move, and Black is allowed to start the game with a single placement.

—description from the designer