Play Hex online — free
Build a bridge from edge to edge.
- 1 or 2 players
- Play the computer — 5 levels
- Play friends or other players online
- Phone, tablet or computer — right in your browser
- Free — no sign-up, no download
About Hex
Hex is a pure strategy game on a diamond of hexagons: join your two sides of the board with an unbroken chain of your stones before your opponent joins theirs. There are no draws.
Play on 7×7, 9×9 or the classic 11×11, with or without the swap rule, against the computer or a friend online.
How to play Hex
Goal
Join your two sides of the board with an unbroken chain of your stones. Red joins the top and bottom edges, Blue joins the left and right edges — the coloured strips around the board show whose edge is whose. The four corner cells belong to both edges.
Setup
The board is a diamond of hexagons, 7×7, 9×9 or 11×11 (the classic size), and starts empty. Red moves first. Cells are named with a letter for the column (a, b, c… left to right) and a number for the row (1, 2, 3… from the top), so a1 is the top-left corner.
On your turn
- Place one stone on any empty cell. Stones never move and are never captured.
- Each cell touches up to six neighbours; a chain is a path of your stones where each one touches the next.
- On a phone with small cells, the first tap shows where your stone would go; tap the same cell again to place it.
The swap rule
Moving first is a big advantage in Hex. To keep it fair, when the swap rule is on, Blue's first turn can be a Swap (button in the corner of the board) instead of a stone: Red's opening stone becomes Blue's, flipped across the board's long diagonal (a stone on b4 becomes a Blue stone on d2, so it is just as useful to Blue), and then Red moves again. Swapping is only possible once, as Blue's very first move.
So as Red, don't open in the middle — a strong first move just gets swapped. Open with something that is about even.
How the game ends
- The moment someone completes a chain between their two edges, they win.
- There are no draws in Hex: the only way to stop your opponent's chain is to build your own, so a full board always has exactly one winner.
Tips
- Long, thin walls lose. Make bridges instead: two stones with a gap of two shared cells between them can't be cut.
- A stone on the second row from your edge is already safely joined to that edge (the same bridge trick with the two edge cells).
- Blocking from right next to an enemy stone rarely works — block from a distance, in front of where they are heading.
- The middle of the board matters most early on; the corners least.
Hex: questions and answers
Is Hex free to play?
Yes. Hex on Neon Game Cave is completely free — there's nothing to download and you don't need to sign up.
Can I play Hex against the computer?
Yes. Choose "Play the computer" and pick one of 5 levels — from a gentle beginner to a tough opponent.
How do I play Hex with a friend online?
Open the Game Cave and challenge your friend from the Players online list in the lobby. To be sure you find each other, share a chat room code first — friends in a chat room also get free text chat during the game.
Can I play Hex on my phone or tablet?
Yes. Hex runs in the web browser on phones, tablets and computers, so there's no app to install. You can add Neon Game Cave to your home screen to open it like an app.
Do I need an account to play Hex?
No. You can play straight away as a guest. Signing in with Google is optional — it keeps your games safe in the cloud and, in games with leaderboards, puts your best scores on them.