Nex
Overview
Nex is a variant of Hex game invented by Joao Pedro Neto in 2004.

Board

Nex is played on a rhombus board of different sizes. Pairs of the opposite board edges are marked with two colors, usually Red and Blue.

Objective

The objective of Nex is to create a connected chain of a player's stones linking the opposite edges of the board marked by the player's color.

Play

The game begins with an empty board.

Each player has an allocated color, usually Red and Blue.

Players take turns making one of the following:

  1. Place a stone of their color AND a neutral stone on empty cells;
    OR
  2. Replace two neutral stones with stones of their color, AND replace a different stone of their color on the board to neutral stone.

Since the first player has a distinct advantage, the pie rule is generally used to make the game fair.  This rule allows the second player to switch colors as his first move.