Singularity 2024

Singularity is a two-player game played on a regular hexagonal board (all sides of equal length) of any size. The board is initially populated with a single black stone permanently located in one of the corners, but is otherwise empty.

The two players, Red and Blue, take turns placing their own stones onto unoccupied cells of the board, one stone per turn, starting with Red. There are two ways to win:

Surround the black stone: Form a group of your stones which occupies at least two perimeter cells and meets the following criteria. There must be a path of perimeter cells between two of the group's perimeter stones (but not including them) that includes the black stone and is half the length of the perimeter. Form a Y: Form a group of your stones which occupies at least two perimeter cells and meets the following criteria. Consider the perimeter cells that form the shortest paths between the group’s perimeter stones. The group’s perimeter stones, together with the shortest perimeter paths connecting them, must comprise the entire perimeter.

Design notesIn Y played on a hexagonal board, three of the corner cells must be marked. I considered, What if only one corner cell is marked?