About

Hexwords is an alphabetical variant of Hex, a strategy board game invented in the 1940s independently by John Nash, the Nobel-winning game theorist, and Piet Hein, a Danish mathematician and writer.

Spell a word

Connect adjacent hexes by selecting or dragging tiles (or using your keyboard)Connect adjacent hexes by selecting or dragging tiles

A screen capture of a hextiles board that shows the word "WORD" selected through a set of adjacent blue tiles near the middle of the board. A screen capture of a hextiles board that shows the word "WORD" selected through a set of adjacent blue tiles near the middle of the board. A screen capture of a hextiles board that shows the word "WORD" selected through a set of adjacent blue tiles near the middle of the board.

Create a path

Chain together the words that you’ve claimedChain together the words that you’ve claimed

A screen capture of a hextiles board that shows the word "WORD" selected through a set of adjacent blue tiles near the middle of the board, as well as the word "TILES" selected in red nearby and a new blue word "PATHS" which spans between the "WORD" and the bottom (blue) edge. A screen capture of a hextiles board that shows the word "WORD" selected through a set of adjacent blue tiles near the middle of the board, as well as the word "TILES" selected in red nearby and a new blue word "PATHS" which spans between the "WORD" and the bottom (blue) edge. A screen capture of a hextiles board that shows the word "WORD" selected through a set of adjacent blue tiles near the middle of the board, as well as the word "TILES" selected in red nearby and a new blue word "PATHS" which spans between the "WORD" and the bottom (blue) edge.

Connect your sides

Span your color’s edges before your opponent spans theirsSpan your color’s edges before your opponent spans theirs

A screen capture of a hextiles board that shows the word "WORD" selected through a set of adjacent blue tiles near the middle of the board and the word "PATHS" selected in blue connecting it to the bottom blue edge. Two red words nearby, "TILES" and "BLOCKER" partially obstruct the path from the blue tiles to the other blue edge on the top of the board, but blue tiles work around it to finish the connection. A screen capture of a hextiles board that shows the word "WORD" selected through a set of adjacent blue tiles near the middle of the board and the word "PATHS" selected in blue connecting it to the bottom blue edge. Two red words nearby, "TILES" and "BLOCKER" partially obstruct the path from the blue tiles to the other blue edge on the top of the board, but blue tiles work around it to finish the connection. A screen capture of a hextiles board that shows the word "WORD" selected through a set of adjacent blue tiles near the middle of the board and the word "PATHS" selected in blue connecting it to the bottom blue edge. Two red words nearby, "TILES" and "BLOCKER" partially obstruct the path from the blue tiles to the other blue edge on the top of the board, but blue tiles work around it to finish the connection.

Tips/Reminders

  • Blue always moves first and aims to connect the top/bottom; Red aims to connect the left/right. These are randomly assigned on game start
  • You can play words anywhere on the board. You do not need to start from an edge or a previous word
  • There is no minimum word length. “I” and “A” are valid words, as are two-letter words
  • Players have limited time to move, but time is added back after each submitted word
  • Tiles can each only be used once

Legend

Settings Audio and theme options
How to play Reopen these slides
Rotate board Re-orient the board tiles
Resign Concede the game
You
Opponent
WORDS

How to play

  1. On each turn, spell a word (of any length) by connecting adjacent lettered hexagons (in any direction). Spelling a word claims its tiles.
  2. Your goal is to create a path of tiles that connects your sides of the board before your opponent connects theirs. Blue’s sides are top and bottom, Red’s sides are left and right. (Sometimes neither player will be able to complete such a path; those games are draws.)
  3. The game is played with a clock. If you run out of time while your opponent still has a possible path, you lose. If you run out of time and your opponent has no possible path, the game is drawn.
  4. Outmaneuver your opponent by finding long words, blocking their routes, and timing important claims.

FAQ

Where does your word list come from? I saw a word that I don’t like.

The game uses a modified version of the open-source Wordnik word list. There may be words in here that don’t feel “normal”, but think of this like Scrabble: you are liberating words from the depths of the dictionary. There are many useful game words that you pick up over time — “AA” is a type of lava and “AI” is a three-toed sloth, not “artificial intelligence”. You can look up any word through wordnik like this: https://www.wordnik.com/words/aa. We removed any offensive slurs that we could find, but if you see any that we missed email us at hello@hexwords.io

How does the game determine a “draw”?

A game ends in a draw when there are no possible winning paths remaining for either player. A player still has a “winning path” while any combination of playable words remains that would connect their edges. Note that it is possible for there only to be remaining winning paths for one player at later stages of the game.

Are longer words always better?

Not always. Word length is emphasized a few times across the site because it’s fun and simple to measure. However, the orientation and position of words is often as (or more) important as length. A five-letter word running straight between a player’s edges might be a better play than an eight-letter word in the corner. A two-letter word blocking an opponent’s path might be the best play on the board.

Could I cheat?

You could if you wanted to, but why would you want to? In an age of AI, especially, it’s trivially easy to cheat at this game. Doing so would make the game less fun for you and for your opponent. We might put in some simple cheating detection at some point, but we don’t really have the resources to monitor this. We just request that you don’t do it.

Hexwords is built by Sam Learner and Oliver Roeder. Contact us at: hello@hexwords.io

This project is still in beta! We're working through a long to-do list, but are also very much seeking feedback. You can submit any bugs, feature requests, or general feedback here. We’ve also set up a Discord server here. Hexwords is built with SvelteKit.