Congeners

Congeners is a strategy game for two players: Black and White. It is played on the hexes (cells) of an initially empty hexagonal board. The recommended size is 6 cells per side, but boards of 5 or 7 are also valid. Each player has access to a sufficient supply of stones of their own color. Definitions: A creature is a maximal set of connected stones of the same color. A single stone is also a creature. The size of a creature is the number of stones it contains. Turns:Black plays first and then turns alternate. On your turn, perform the following actions in order: Move a stone of your color through empty cells connected in a straight line, provided that on each of the crossed cells it touches exactly one friendly creature and any number of enemy creatures. Single-stone creatures cannot be moved. Place a stone of your color on an empty cell in a straight line towards the moved stone, without jumping over other stones and without merging two or more friendly creatures. The placed stone cannot be adjacent to the group of the moved stone. Pass your turn if you cannot perform actions 1 and 2 in that order; otherwise, passing is not allowed. The movement can end on a cell occupied by an enemy stone, removing it from the board; this is considered that the creature has bitten the enemy creature. End of the game:The game ends when neither player can make a move. Each player scores independently. Starting with their largest creatures: Score each shape (regardless of symmetry). If it is represented by a single creature, it scores 0 points; otherwise, it scores a number of points equal to the square of its size multiplied by its number of creatures. If both players obtain the same score, compare the remaining shapes of that size. If the tie persists, repeat the procedure with the next size, and so on until a difference is found. The player with the higher score wins. To balance the game, before starting, the first player places one black creature of two stones and one white creature of two stones, not adjacent to each other, and the second player chooses a side. This balancing method is called the two-stone pie rule. —description from the designer