What are the Hexodic rules tools?
The Hexodic rules tools are three free browser utilities that answer rules questions by running Hexodic’s canonical rules engine — the same TypeScript rules code the game server uses — directly on this page. None of the tools contains its own copy of the rules, so an answer from a tool is what the game itself would decide.
- Board coordinate explorer — Hexodic’s board coordinate explorer names every cell with its axial coordinates, its ring distance from the centre, and its neighbours.
- Move-legality checker — Hexodic’s move-legality checker says whether a complete turn (Project, Shape, Echo) is legal in a position, step by step, and what happens if it is played.
- Branching-factor explorer — Hexodic’s branching-factor explorer counts the legal complete turns in one position you choose.
Definitions used by all three tools
- Axial coordinates (q, r) — a two-number address for a hexagonal cell. The centre cell is (0, 0); a third “cube” value s = −q − r is sometimes shown for convenience.
- Replay code — a list of numbers separated by dots. Starting from the opening position, each number picks one turn from the engine’s own ordered list of legal turns. A replay code is how the checker and the explorer describe a position, so a position can be shared as a link.
- Complete turn — one Project, then one Shape, then one Echo choice, which is how every Hexodic turn is built (the rules).
What the tools cannot tell you
The Hexodic rules tools do not evaluate positions, suggest good moves, or predict who is winning; they only report what the rules allow and what the rules say happens. The tools never run games on their own: every computation is for one position that you picked. A tool also cannot detect a repetition loss, because that rule depends on the full history of a real game rather than on a single position.
To play rather than analyse, get the Hexodic app. For the design reasons behind the board, see hex-grid strategy games.
Reviewed 2026-09-15.