Mincut 2023

Mincut is a two-player game played on a square board of any size, initially empty. The two players, Red and Blue, take turns placing their own stones onto unoccupied squares, one stone per turn, starting with Red. Passing is not allowed, but if you don't have an available placement, your turn is skipped.

Red must form a path of red stones (interconnected via horizontal or vertical adjacencies, or both) connecting the two opposite red sides of the board. Blue must form a path of blue stones connecting the two opposite blue sides of the board.

PlayIf you can place without forming a crosscut, do so, concluding your turn. A crosscut is a 2×2 area with two diagonally adjacent red stones and two diagonally adjacent blue stones.

If your only possible placements would form crosscuts, then, instead of placing a stone, move a stone to an unoccupied, diagonally adjacent square closer to the center of the board without forming a crosscut, concluding your turn. If this is not possible either, your turn is skipped.