Slepli 2025

Slepli (from Old Norse: sleiplykkja, meaning “slippery loop”) is a loop game for two players: Black and White. It is played on the hexes (cells) of an initially empty hexagonal board. The recommended board size is 5 cells per side, but boards with 4 or 6 are also valid. Each player has access to a sufficient supply of stones of their own color.

Definitions: A group is a maximal set of connected stones of any color. A single isolated stone is also a group. A loop is a closed path of stones of any color, with no branches and one stone wide along its entire length. You control a loop if more than half of its stones are your color. If a loop has the same number of stones of each color, neither player controls it. A claimed loop is a loop made entirely of one color. To flip is to replace enemy stones with friendly stones, which is optional only when it involves flipping stones from claimed loops.

Turns:Black plays first and then turns alternate. On your turn, perform the following actions in order:

Place a stone of your color on an empty cell. Flip all enemy stones contained within any controlled loop that forms with this placement, until all match your color. Remove all friendly stones adjacent to the new loop, except those belonging to claimed loops.

At the end of your turn, there must be no friendly stones adjacent to friendly loops.

End of the game:The game ends when all empty cells are adjacent to loops controlled by a single player; in that case, the player who controls those loops is the winner.

To balance the game, before starting, the first player places a black stone on any empty spot, and the second player chooses a side. This balancing method is called the pie rule.

—description from the designer