H E X P L O D E

If you have the Tcl Plugin installed you can play the game of Hexplode now otherwise you can download the source and play a more fully-featured version of the game at your leisure.

Playing the game

Hexplode is a game for two or more players, but in the plugin version it’s just you against your computer ... It is played on a grid of hexagonal cells, rather like a honeycomb. Players take it in turns to place “counters” on cells (shown as incrementing a number in the cell). You can either place a counter on an unoccupied cell or on a cell of your own colour.

When the number of counters on the cell reaches a certain threshold, it will “explode” on to the surrounding cells. This “critical mass” is achieved when the number of counters reaches the number of neighbours directly bordering the cell. The explosion deposits one counter on each of the surrounding cells. If these cells are currently owned by an opponent then all of the counters in the cell are claimed by the player causing the explosion. If any of these neighbouring cells itself reaches criticality as a result of this, it too will explode in a chain reaction.

The aim of the game is to be the last player with any cells left on the board. That’s all there is to it!

Finally, if you really like Hexplode please consider making a donation to an organization involved in land-mine clearance, for example UNICEF. It would be great to think that “virtual explosions” could make a difference to those whose lives have been devastated by the real thing.

Neil Winton

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Last updated 1998/12/22 18:51:49