Twigs
Twigs Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Material
- 12 pentatwigs of each colour (24 in total) — we'll call them 'twigs' hereafter.²
- 15 discs of each colour.
- Carrying case
² Two sets are available: Ice+Black and Red+Blue. See 3-4 player variant.
Rules
Each player has an allocated colour (black or ice). Ice starts by placing an ice twig on the playing surface. From now on, starting with Black, players alternate turns placing one of their twigs on the table 'touching' at least one already placed twig so that:
- The first twig Black places must be of a different shape than that the one Ice played (to prevent rotationally-symmetric defensive play).
- The twigs must be placed so that their segments act as edges of an imaginary hexagonal grid. Notice that a maximum of 3 segments can converge into a single vertex, and they form a 120º angle (1/3rd of a circumference) with each other. Notice also that twigs only touch at the ends of segments (see examples below).
Figure: Examples of legal placements.
Figure: Examples of illegal placements: 1: Not a 120º angle. 2: Not at the end of a segment.
As soon as one or more hexagons are created, the player with the majority of segments surrounding each hexagon places a disc of her colour inside it. In case of a tie for a hexagon, it remains unclaimed.
Figure: Example: Ice places the 'C' twig, creating 2 hexagons, one for each player.
Game End
The game ends after all twigs have been played (and enclosed hexes have been claimed). Next, players claim any larger enclosed areas (if any) according to the same majority rules that were used to claim individual hexes (see endgame scoring example below).
The player who has claimed more areas wins the game. In case of a tie, play again.
Figure: Endgame example. White wins 11 - 10. (The printed example names the winner "White"; the rules above name the colours Ice and Black. Transcribed as printed.)
Variant for 3 or 4 Players
You'll need a second set of Twigs in red and blue to play this variant. Each player has an allocated colour.
Play as usual taking turns in clockwise order. Areas are claimed by the player with more segments surrounding them. Ties are more frequent than in 2 player games, but it's ok.
Variant
Each area is worth as many points as its size (the number of imaginary hexes it comprises), instead of 1 point.
Puzzles
Don't cheat by searching online! That wrecks the fun!
The triangle
Arrange all 12 twigs of a single colour into the following triangle:
Figure: triangle of hexagons (15 hexes).
15 hexes
Can you create other arrangements that also have 15 hexes?
The maximum
Arrange all 24 twigs according to the rules to create the maximum number of hexagons possible.
The ring
Arrange all 12 twigs of the same colour to enclose one single area according to the rules so that the size of this area is as large as possible.
The tree
Arrange all 12 twigs of the same colour according to the rules so that the number of leaves (ends of unconnected segments) is maximized.
Figure: Examples of leaves (unconnected ends).