Swarm 2025

Swarm is a game that uses forced stack-captures to create the largest possible group on a small board. This game is designed to provide a solid number of moves for small board sizes (a Base-3 game takes around 60 moves, and a Base-4 game takes around 120 moves).

COMPONENTS

A hex-hex board (Size3 or 4) A sufficient number of stackable pieces in two colors

DEFINITIONS Pieces piled up on the same space are called a stack. A singleton is also a stack of size 1. In this game, stacks consist only of pieces of the same color. A set of stacks of the same color that are adjacent to each other is called a group. The size of a group is the number of stacks it contains.

GAMEPLAY Assign a color of pieces to each player, and take turns alternately following the rules below. Passing is not allowed.

If there are no opponent's stacks to capture at the start of your turn, place one of your pieces in an empty space. If there is an opponent's stack to capture at the start of your turn, you must capture the stack according to the following rules.

CAPTURE At the start of your turn, if two or more of your singletons are adjacent to the same opponent stack, and the height of that stack is smaller than the number of your adjacent singletons, (1) remove that opponent stack from the board, and (2) stack all your singletons that were adjacent to that space into a single stack and place it in the space where the opponent stack was.

If there are multiple captureable stacks, the capture involving the greater number of your singletons takes priority. If the conditions are identical, the active player may choose which capture to perform.

GAME END The game ends when the active player has no legal moves left. The player with the largest group wins. If they are tied, compare the next largest groups one by one until a difference emerges. Draws are not possible.

(If the outcome is clear, the game may end as soon as the board is filled)

—description from the designer