Hex on the Grid: Connect Your Two Shores

An adaptation of the board game Hex on a 7 x 7 grid of hoops laid out as a rhombus: one team tries to link north and south with pinnies of its color and the other links east and west. Players go in relay and drop their pinny in a free hoop, so every trip is both attack and block.

How to play

1. Lay out 49 hoops in rows offset by half a hoop (like a honeycomb) to form a rhombus, and mark each team's shores with colored cones (4 min).
2. Explain the goal: build an unbroken chain of your hoops between your two shores; hoops that touch are connected, and Hex can never end in a tie (2 min).
3. Game 1 in relay: each player carries a folded pinny, drops it in a free hoop and runs back to tag the next teammate; the captain may point to the target hoop before each run (5 min).
4. Game 2 without a captain: the runner decides alone, on the move (4 min).
5. Game 3 with the swap rule: after the first move, the opponent may take that hoop, so the opening move does not decide the game (3 min).
6. Analysis: which two-hoop bridge patterns were impossible to block (2 min).

Rules

• Drop your pinny only in an empty hoop and inside the hoop.
• Enter and leave the rhombus through your own shores, walking between hoops, without jumping over other players.
• Only one player per team on the board at a time.
• Once placed, a pinny does not move.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: be the captain who chooses hoops, or place the pinny with a pole from outside the rhombus.
• Visual impairment: play on a smaller board with a partner describing the position by coordinates.
• Knee injury: walk instead of jog and use a shorter starting distance.

Learning goals

• Understand the idea of connecting and blocking at the same time.
• Make strategic decisions on the move and without help.
• Recognize effective patterns and apply them in later games.

Equipment for a class of 25

• hoops: 49
• pinnies: 28
• cones: 8

Teacher tip

Draw the board on a whiteboard to explain bridges before game 3. If you do not have 49 hoops, use flat disc markers or chalk marks.

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