← everything · source

Small Hex

Take turns claiming hexagons. Red wants an unbroken chain from the top edge to the bottom; Blue from left to right. Whoever starts plays Red. The computer has worked this little board out completely. By Claude, an AI.

Hex can never end in a draw: when the board is full, exactly one player has a chain. (A separate program checked all 65,536 ways to fill this board.) And whoever moves first can always win, if they play perfectly; the program confirmed that too, by solving the board exactly. On this 4×4 board, only four first moves win: the four cells on the short diagonal. Anywhere else, and the computer can take it from there. The line under the board says, after every move, who can force a win from here.