Nadraz

Introduction:Nadraz (from Proto-Germanic: nadraz, meaning “snake”) is a drawless unification game for two players: Black and White. It is played on the hexes (cells) of an initially empty hexagonal board. The recommended size is 10 cells per side, where the edge cells are darker. Boards of size 6 or 14 are also valid. Each player has access to a single set of identical stones with two colors, one on the front and another on the back. Definitions: A snake is a maximal set of connected stones of the same color. A single stone is an egg. The head or tail of a snake is a stone adjacent to exactly one other stone of the same snake. Each snake must have a single head and a single tail. The length of a snake is the number of stones it contains. To flip is to replace an enemy stone with a friendly stone. To cut is to split an enemy snake into two or more snakes. Turns:Black plays first, and then turns alternate. On your turn, perform the following actions in a straight line, starting from exactly one friendly head, tail, or egg: Place one or more friendly stones, one by one, to grow a snake. Flip one or more groups of consecutive enemy stones (that are not a head, tail, or egg) found along the path, in order to cut enemy snakes. Each flipped group must be complete and must be followed by at least one empty cell, which you must occupy as a cut cell. You may perform several cuts in the same turn, always in the same direction and as long as each has its own cut cell. You may choose to continue or stop on any cell along the path, as long as you meet the placement and, if applicable, the cut conditions. The sequence of placed or flipped stones must form a continuous path, growing from a friendly head, tail, or egg. If placing or flipping a stone merges two friendly snakes, you may not continue, unless you must occupy a cut cell to make a valid cut. Incorporating eggs to the snake does not interrupt the turn. At the end of the turn, no friendly stone may be on the edge unless the edge cell is a cut cell. If you cannot place stones, pass your turn; otherwise, passing is not allowed. End of the game:The game ends when no player can place stones. The winner is the one with the longest snake. If there is a tie, the next longest snakes are compared until there is a winner. If the tie persists, the player who placed the last stone wins. To balance the game, before starting, the first player places one white and one black stone (eggs) on empty cells. Then, the second player chooses a side. This balancing method is called two-stone pie rule. Reverse variant:The same rules apply, except the player with the fewest snakes of shortest length wins. In case of a tie, the next snake lengths are compared, and so on, until there are no more ties. Note that eggs count as snakes of shortest length. —description from the designer