# How Hexodic's depth and balance were measured, and what the numbers cannot tell you.

> Every statistic on this site comes from one pinned simulation artifact. Here is its method, sample, rules version, date, and limitations.

The method behind Hexodic's published numbers: 2,000 simulated bot-vs-bot games, what was counted, which rules version ran, and the limits of bot-vs-bot evidence for human play.

Canonical HTML: https://hexodic.com/how-hexodic-was-measured
Site index for agents: https://hexodic.com/llms.txt

## How were Hexodic's depth and balance measured?

The published **Hexodic depth and balance numbers come from 2,000 simulated games between computer players**, run on the ruleset that is live today and stored as one evidence file whose checksum the site build verifies. No Hexodic statistic comes from human play yet.

The site build fails if a number on a page does not match a value recomputed from that file.

Key terms:

- **Half-move** — one player's turn. A full round is two half-moves.
- **Branching factor** — the number of different legal full turns ([Project](/rules/project), [Shape](/rules/shape) and optional [Echo](/rules/echo) together) available at a given half-move.
- **Matchup** — a pairing of two computer players, such as greedy against random.

## The evidence file

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Sample | 2,000 games: five matchups of 400 games each (random, greedy and epsilon-greedy players) |
| Rules version | The current ruleset, with the half-move cap checked against the engine at every build |
| Date | Evidence authored 2026-05-13; adopted as current 2026-08-08 |
| Players | Simple computer players, not the deep-search bots and not CL3O |

## What does Hexodic's branching factor show?

Hexodic's branching factor was measured by listing every legal full turn at sampled half-moves. The mean was 910 legal turns at half-move 5, 1,021 at half-move 10, and 666 at half-move 20. The half-move 20 figure uses fewer games, because some games had already ended. A large branching factor means memorized openings run out quickly; it does not by itself prove that the choices are interesting.

## Is Hexodic balanced between first and second player?

Hexodic's balance depends on how it is measured, and both figures are published. In the matchups where both computer players choose with some randomness, the first player won 47.38% of games. Across all five matchups the first player won 40.6% and the second player 58.9%, but that figure is dominated by a deterministic greedy-against-greedy matchup that replays the same game. Draws were 0.5% of all games. None of these figures measures human players.

## How long does a game of Hexodic take?

A game of Hexodic is estimated at about 5–6 minutes. The simulation counted half-moves per game and multiplied by an assumed 8 seconds per move: the mean was 5.98 minutes and the longest game 8 minutes. That is simulated bot timing at an estimated pace, not measured human match length; real games can be faster or slower.

## Limitations of this evidence

- **Bot-vs-bot, not human play.** Humans open, blunder and defend differently.
- **Simple players.** The sampled players are random, greedy and epsilon-greedy, so the numbers describe the rules under weak play.
- **Estimated timing.** Session length uses an assumed seconds-per-move figure.
- **Not yet measured:** human win rates by seat, human game length, and CL3O's strength against people.

The rules being measured are on the [rules hub](/rules); the bot that learns on top of them is on [CL3O](/cl3o). Test the numbers yourself: [get the Hexodic app](/download).

Reviewed 2026-09-15.

Part of the [Hexodic AI and research hub](/hexodic-and-ai), which links CL3O, what playing records, and how every published number was measured.

## Where to go next

- [Press kit](https://hexodic.com/press) — Facts, angles and assets, with every figure sourced.
- [The bot gauntlet](https://hexodic.com/bot-gauntlet) — What a candidate bot has to survive before it is promoted.
- [Roadmap](https://hexodic.com/roadmap) — What is live, what is in flight, and what is only a vision.

## Questions this page answers

- How was Hexodic's strategic depth measured?
- Is Hexodic balanced between first and second player?
- Where do Hexodic's statistics come from?
- How long does a game of Hexodic take?