Tantrix

Tantrix

Players place hexagonal tiles to create the longest line or loop.
Publication date	1988
Players	1–4
Age range	8+
Setup time	1 minute
Playing time	30 minutes
Random chance	Medium
Skill(s) required	Strategic thought

Tantrix is a hexagonal tile-based abstract game invented by Mike McManaway from New Zealand. Each of the 56 different tiles in the set contains three lines, going from one edge of the tile to another. No two lines on a tile have the same colour. There are four colours in the set: red, yellow, blue, and green. No two tiles are identical, and each is individually numbered from 1 through 56.

In the multiplayer version of the game, each player chooses a colour, so you have between two and four players. Each draws one tile from the bag, and the person who draws the highest number goes first.

Each player then takes five more tiles from the bag, and places all six tiles face up in front of them. The first person plays one tile, usually with their colour on it. Play then rotates clockwise. After playing a tile, each player takes a replacement tile from the bag, so that they always have six in front of them. Tiles played must match the colour of the edges adjoining it.

When three tiles surround an empty space so that it is effectively half covered this is called a forced space. If the person whose turn it is has a tile that fills that space they must play it. They repeat this process until there are no more forced spaces that they can fill, at which stage they make a free move, where they can play any tile as long as they don't breach the three restriction rules given below. Once they have had a free move, they must then fill any more forced spaces that they can.

The three restriction rules are:

Once there are no tiles left in the bag, the three restriction rules do not apply.

The aim of the game is to get the longest line or loop in your colour. Each tile in a line counts as one point, and in a loop is two points. Only the highest-scoring line or loop counts.

The first version of Tantrix was created by Mike McManaway in 1988 and was called Mind Game[1]. It used 56 cardboard pieces with only two coloured lines, red and black.[2] Owning a games shop, McManaway sold the game directly and following customer feedback continued to change the rules and design. In 1991, the tiles were changed to plastic and two more colours were added, allowing for four-player games.

The tiles were (and still are) hand-painted, featuring different colours to those now used, even pink. The early form of the game featured eight "Triple Intersections", but these were found to slow the game play as they only fitted into three different forced spaces (compared to five or six for all other tiles). So in 1993, the Triple Intersections were removed from the game.