The Hexodic rules, mechanic by mechanic.

Hexodic is a two-player abstract strategy game whose whole ruleset is a short chain: every turn is a Project, a Shape and an optional Echo; tiers built by Shape decide captures; and captures, tiers and space decide the three wins. This page maps how those mechanics depend on each other and links to one page per mechanic. Every statement here was checked against the Hexodic rules engine, not a design document.

Reviewed 2026-09-15 against the Hexodic rules engine.

How do you play Hexodic?

Two players alternate turns on a 37-cell hexagonal board. One player moves first, every cell starts at tier 0, and each player starts with 7 stones in reserve, 3 charges and 6 lowers. A turn has three steps, always in this order:

1. Project — Place a stone from your reserve, or, once the reserve is empty, Move a stone one cell.
2. Shape — raise or lower one nearby cell by one tier.
3. Echo — optionally spend a charge on an Echo-Capture or an Echo-Lock.

After the turn, the engine runs the capture check, then checks whether the player who just moved has won. The how it works page walks through a full turn in plain language.

How the mechanics relate

• Tiers are the core resource. Shape creates them, capture is decided by them, and the Network win and the tiebreak are counted in them.
• Capture feeds Takeover. Encirclement, Echo-Capture and a Move onto a lower enemy cell all count toward it.
• Echo is the scarce accelerator. Echo → Echo-Capture turns a sealed enemy group into several captures at once, which is the fastest route to Takeover. Echo-Lock freezes a tier-2 cell, which is tier control in its purest form and protects a Network.
• Space feeds Strangle. Containment removes an opponent’s legal Projects, and a player who begins a turn with no legal Project loses.
• The game end rules — half-move cap, tiebreak and repetition loss — make every game finite.

Is there luck in Hexodic?

Hexodic has no luck. The rules engine has no dice, no card draw and no random setup: the starting position is identical every game, and the result of a turn depends only on the position and the chosen actions. Deterministic strategy games explains what that means for improving.

Is information hidden in Hexodic?

Hexodic has no hidden information. Both players see every stone, every tier, every lock, both reserves, both charge counts and both lowering budgets, so a Hexodic position is a perfect-information position.

Why a hex board?

Hexodic uses hexagons because every cell has exactly six neighbours at the same distance, with no diagonals. Encirclement counts all 6 neighbours of a stone, Network counts connections between neighbours, and Shape reach is measured in hex steps, so one adjacency rule serves every mechanic. Hex grid strategy games compares Hexodic with other hex games.

Every term, defined

The Hexodic glossary defines every mechanic term used on this site, from Stone to Repetition loss.

Get the Hexodic app — the fastest way to learn the rules is one game against a bot.