PVC Hex board

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I became aware of Hex from Martin Gardner's book, 'Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions.' This is where most of the information in the video comes from, but the Wikipedia article reads almost exactly like it. I really do have every intention of making a nicer wooden board in the future, but there is a technical challenge to overcome. Making an end-grain board would be the simple approach, by simply ripping hexagonal boards that could then be cut into slices and glued together. This approach would diminish the beauty of the wood, and so I would prefer to construct the board from face-wood hexagonal tiles. The problem inherent in this technique is that it requires a method for producing hexagons that are both precise and consistent. I would also like to 'dish' each tile, giving each a concave seat for the game piece. This would allow for easy placement of the game piece, as well as the ability to use traditional 'Go' styled pieces. These considerations, as well as thinking about how difficult it will be to make the two-toned border trim, are the well-deserved rationalizations for my persistent delay in making it. I am, however, stubborn; I always get what I want. And typically, I will procrastinate until I get it. Why on Earth are you still reading this? I'm just killing time while this uploads. Until next time...

[@Dolmorii]

"I still wanna make a wooden one," *"Not tonight ;)"*

[@AshayDoshi]

still saying the same thing in 2017 xD

[@ISXOVER]

Hahaha, I lost it during the fume effect :'D

[@pocket83]

This is all that I ever do: I play around with stuff all day. It must be difficult for you to be so busy. You don't even have the time for spell check, so I'm surprised that you have time enough to watch youtube videos and comment on them. Thank you for reminding me of how blessed I am to be able to indulge in an endless life of frivolous recreation.

[@chironturner4040]

bamboo would make a nice board

[@F1reL1nk]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@jessstuart7495]

You would need to sort through a bunch of pieces to get consistent inside and outside diameters.

[@ansonpoon4814]

I have to prevent myself to watch too many videos from this guy, I can't stop..

[@MrEdwardCollins]

Great looking board! Thanks for taking the time to show it to us with this video! Years ago I made a board with wooden hexes, which were taken from another board game I had. It turned out okay and I later sold it on eBay. I also once made a board with wooden circles. Ideally, if the pieces you are using are colored black and white, I think the board should be a third, neutral color, rather than also colored white. (Gray, for example.) In your demonstration game, which starts at about 5:52, it's not clear in which side White is trying to connect and which side Black is trying to connect... since the sides of the board aren't marked. (I suspect the two players knew, which is what's important.) More importantly, it doesn't look like you played with the pie rule. White's first move was exceptionally strong... Black should have swapped. The pie rule helps to prevent the first player from making too strong of an opening move. (Hex is a first-player win, of course, for any size board, although on larger boards it's not know what that strategy is.) But on an 11 by 11 size board, which is actually rather small, going first without the pier rule is a HUGE advantage.

[@CafeenMan]

"Fume effect simulated for realism." The word "dope" as in "doped up" or "dopey" comes from when aircraft were covered with cloth that was held in place and sealed with a product called dope. It's a nitrocelluous product that if you use it without wearing a respirator or VERY good ventilation will really mess you up.

[@pocket83]

lol, maybe a wooden table to play it at, too. Remember, the idea here was to be simple, just so we could play easily. But I do mention some ideas like those in the description. This could be a great wood project.

[@robotturkey2929]

What about drilling out holes for a wooden game board kind of like Chinese checkers. It also might be useful to have dishes for both players to store marbles so if you are playing on a table or the floor the marbles won't get away from you.

[@phaedruscj3330]

Good idea but for me lining up 121 drill holes in multiple directions to the same depth without a drill press would be difficult would be difficult

[@VeggieRider]

Not tonight. lol

[@FlakeisFalling]

Your videos are always a joy to watch. Great narrating! :)

[@ryan67203]

Nice job. One thing you might consider would be a thin wooden base with two-toned sides, the same height as your PVC pieces. Mix a two-part epoxy and pour a quarter inch in the base, then place you PVC pieces in the epoxy. When it dries, your pieces will be secured without having to glue each piece.

[@pocket83]

Thanks. Well, we aren't that far away. Stop by anytime.

[@thierrymourocq1209]

That yeah at the end

[@neco777777]

Don't know if it has been asked before but couldn't you've just made a wooden frame to stabilize the pvc structure gluing it to a rhombus shaped board? However, as always a wonderful job - keep it up!

[@pocket83]

I just looked at it (wish we could just post links). Your solution is elegant. Marking a board with permanent designations for black and white limits the respective player to always playing that "side." Your solution marks a distinction, without forcing it to be for a certain color. I think in my final version, I will be making that distinction with two wood varieties, but NOT by dark & light. I do not like that you designed it to be played on the grid, though- too hard for me to visualize.

[@pocket83]

Please see one of my earlier vids, the one about the Abalone board. I made that game board a few years ago using a router, and it sounds similar to what you are describing. But I would prefer to make a wooden Hex board using a very different technique, something like dished hexagonal tiles. I wrote a bit about it in the description, but it will be awhile before I have time to actually DO it. By the way, please explain what you mean by undercut/overcut, so I can get a better picture in my head.

[@suntzu6122]

LOL "NOT TONIGHT" Ive heard that before sooo many times lmaooooo. It almost doesnt even matter what the project is, its always assumed im doing it RIGHT NOW. "Honey I was thinking of assembling an entire Cessna plane" "NOT TONIGHT" lol!

[@pocket83]

If you want.

[@artortega7230]

Amazing board

[@steinie44]

Very good. How about a nice wood base for it. Maybe a two part base to hold the marbles, or a lid for it?

[@williamgooch1006]

Is this like the thing from the TV show Blockbusters?

[@Stunke]

If you really want that hexagonal grid you could use a hand router and a guide on the wood sort of your choosing. I made a hex board out of 22mm MDF though and used a line grid for placing the stones. I undercut the black side of the board and overcut the white side of the board to distinguish them from each other without needing to explicitly mark the board. Check out images on boardgamegeek under hex 'creative'. Bound to be some inspiration there.

[@Ucceah]

with a little tweaking this could double as an abalone board. ive been pondering, how to make an abalone game for some time, but this 2 in 1 solution would be even nicer. thanks for the idea! =)

[@pocket83]

I made one of those, too. Search my channel for "sticky shellac fingers." I think it is also featured in that video.

[@grapeape3633]

Cuda FX I was thinking the same thing, the hard part is the fact you need to be able to side or roll the marbles to the next spot. I'm thinking with this setup, the marbles would sit too low in the pipes.

[@pocket83]

Timothy Grape I think you're right.

[@mkandrac]

I absolutely love this video!

[@chrismead1464]

I want to try this method for an Agon board. I think it's also called Queens Guard but I'm not sure.

[@Stunke]

When I cut my hex board to size I used a circular saw. I set the angle of the cut to 30 degrees and then cut black's sides of the board. Then I changed the angle of the saw to 30 degrees in the other direction and then cut white's sides. Check out boardgamegeek - hex - images - creative - recent you'll see a painted red 22 mm hex board. That's the one. I think it's a much more elegant solution than putting color or inlays on the board itself. Piet is pronounced like Pete by the way :)

[@brh4015]

The animated THF induced dizziness is cool

good idea I'm doing it right away

[@zacharykolbe161]

This seems like a fun game and reminds me a lot of the board game go (igo).

[@HavanaWoody]

How do you think you would approach cutting a hex dowel? A jig to do the dibbles shouldn't be to much trouble. Trouble is I'd get carried away and want to use several kinds of wood and give each piece a trim.

[@pocket83]

Sorry I missed such an interesting question. Cutting some hexagonal stock is not difficult at all. I've done it before. Just set the (table) saw to 30° and rip cut both sides of a length of square stock, so that the angled cut intersects the middle of the side edge. Then flip it upside-down to repeat on the other half. You always keep a flat face on the saw table, and that crisp edge will be against the fence on your last cut. Also, I would recommend making a 30° zero-clearance plate for this task. I have one, and I use it surprisingly often. What you are suggesting could be beautiful. Your "dibble" jig could be made on a drill press, using a core-box router bit. Just thinking out loud.

[@Samalanderable]

I scrolled down the comment section abit... but no one mentioned this that I could see. If you like Hex. Look at the game Go or iGo. You may also enjoy that... but goodluck trying to master it!~

[@DarcyWhyte]

What a nice game. I will make one...

[@dave5194]

What if you used a hot hexagonal rod to burn the board holes onto the wood? How well would that work?

[@Derederi]

I think the easiest way to make one would be if you made a 6 sided wooden rod(there are many ways to do it)than you can slice it up and glue the parts together.

[@pocket83]

That will work, but I talk about why I don't want to do that in the description.

[@domsau2]

The template's link is dead. RIP.

[@poppyEars]

Hexagons are the bestagons

[@justinmerrick2811]

3:43 to 4:10 is an acid trip.

[@tetsucat13]

Nice. 😃👍

[@AJMansfield1]

There is one way to play hex, and that is by playing symmetric to your opponent; whoever made the first move wins the game.

[@FrancisPelletier]

Except with the pie rule

[@jakobhallberg9212]

Tubular, dude!

[@holywizard6945]

Once again, a simple game that smell math... I like it (let's build it too ;) )

[@jonathanbush6197]

Thanks for posting this. Your home made board is beautiful. When you started playing the game, it was confusing at first, because you do not say whose borders are where around the board. I hope you agree that this must be specified before the game starts. It turns out that you played with black borders clockwise from the acute corners, which is the opposite from what your diagram shows at the beginning of the video. There is a tradition among all the Internet Hex servers that the first player is black, and the black borders are clockwise from the acute corners. I hope any home made board will follow this tradition. There is another rule in Hex which I hope you will adopt in your games. It is called the pie rule, or the swap rule, or one move equalization. After black places the first stone on the board, the second player has the option, at that point only, to swap sides. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_rule this reduces the first move advantage, and the game is even deeper than it would be otherwise.

[@pocket83]

I will have to think about your messages for a bit, because they are pretty heavy, and they deserve a thoughtful response. The following is my impulse response, which is subject to revision. In some sports, teams swap sides at some point during the game. This is most likely because some external variable (exempli gratia, the sun) can affect the outcome of the game, and provide the losing party with a legitimate excuse. Let's say that I'm more left-brained than you, or that I'm left-handed, or that I'm blind in my left eye. Whatever the case, in an effort to reduce any possibility of advantage to either player because of any arbitrarily fixed spatial positioning, I question the fairness of designating standardized "sides" in Hex. I prefer a "sideless" board, such as I have made here, so that I can delay my final decision. Ideally, I would prefer that the board remain colorless. I do not presently understand the standardization in the chess board, so I am unsure as to whether or not I agree with the logic behind it; it changes nothing except the position of the queen (relative to the player's color). In a nutshell, I disagree with your movement to nurture this "tradition," prima facie (sorry for the Latin lesson). The swap rule seems mathematically sound, so I'm with you there, although I have doubts that the human intellect _can_ have the capacity to carry a game of Hex to completion to understand any nuanced advantage, given only a single move. It would be preferable to agree to start with a standardized opening move, similar to Othello's, or where both player's first moves are those with the most desirable probabilities...ok, I'm getting carried away now. Let me think about it some more. Right now, I'm leaning towards a scheme where neither player knows, or states, or has any claim to, a particular side until the game unfolds. But, unfortunately for me and my opinion, there are people who are willing to explore the mathematical concept of the fairness of Hex to a degree of scrutiny far greater than my attention span or time will permit, and ultimately, when Mrs. pocket and I play, we will make our own rules. Thanks for the thoughtful comments, though. You still have time to influence how I choose to make my final board (and video), because I have many projects lined up before I can get to it.

[@jonathanbush6197]

pocket83 I have not considered that it might be easier for a specific player to read the board if their border rows went one way instead of the other. I'm not sure how you can tell which way would be truly better for you in terms of results unless you play lots of games one way and lots of games the other way, but that doesn't mean your claim is invalid. I don't see a real problem, if the board itself has no colors around the edges. However, if the players do not agree where the borders are BEFORE the first stone is placed, then you are NO LONGER PLAYING THE GAME OF HEX. I regard this as an important point. If you use the pie rule, and you follow the protocol that the second player can swap bowls (or bags) of stones after the first stone is placed, then the second player decides which way both players' borders go. This decision is ideally based on the merits of the first move, whether it deserves to be swapped or not, and should not be based on a preference to have the border rows one way instead of another. IMO this would "go against the grain" of the purpose of the pie rule, and could place one player at a handicap. For example, If I move first against you, and I know you prefer your borders the way they are set before the game starts, then I might make an overly advantageous initial move, confident that you won't swap it because you don't want your borders to change. There is a workaround for this, however. Instead of swapping bowls, The initial black stone could be replaced by a white stone which is the equivalent move for white. For example, if black's first move is A4, the second player could place a white stone on D1 and remove the A4 stone, returning it to black's bowl. This is like a mirror image move, reflected along the long diagonal. This way, both players keep their border rows and their color stones. Oh, and speaking of coordinates, there is a tradition there as well, just in case you want to place coordinate labels on the board. A1 should be an acute corner, and B1 should be a black border row cell (clockwise from A1 around the perimeter.) Allow me to introduce you to a pool of Hex players: www.littlegolem.net/jsp/games/gamedetail.jsp?gtid=hex Each player there has what is called an ELO rating. This is rating not ranking; a higher value indicates a stronger player. Newcomers start with a rating of 1500. A ratings difference of 250 points indicates the stronger player has over an 80% chance of defeating the other. The top player there is Maciej Celuch from Warsaw. He's almost certainly the strongest Hex player on the planet. His rating is over 2550, more than four of these 80% steps from the average player. I'm on the list, currently rated 2011, which is 26th place. I have no doubt that any of the top ten players there could defeat even Maciej, if they were given the first move without swap. But it's unlikely that the players would agree to such a game, as they would regard it as a waste of time. So yes, the pie rule is a big deal for these folks. Without it, the game of Hex would be a much simpler affair, and nobody would have achieved a rating over 2100 IMO. Note that this is 13x13 Hex, where the first move without swap would confer less of an advantage than it would for 11x11. Regarding chess, I agree that the tradition "white square to the right" has no effect on game play. It's just a tradition. I also happen to believe that for Hex, "black borders clockwise from the acute corners" would have no significant effect on the game, and would be desirable standard for Hex board makers to adopt. But if you ultimately disagree, it wouldn't mean the end of civilization, I GUESS...

[@TheAllBloods]

Think i may make a wall mounted one out of steel pipe and round magnets.

[@santacruz12118]

how many inches is the PVC tube?

[@arbitrarystuff1229]

who is the alternate part of, "we".

[@kristiet8962]

4:04 please tell me that everyone sees it moving?!

[@chrism.5289]

7:36 I wonder what else she had in mind? :3 Hah nice video though man.

[@twitchster77]

According to the biography they didn't call it John. They called it "Nash".

[@pocket83squared]

As with most historical accounts, it's all some combination of hearsay and speculation, So it depends which bio you read. Martin Gardner is a credible source. Not that it matters; the game probably existed millennia before its 'inventor.'

[@twitchster77]

pocket83² That's pretty interesting....haha I would've never had guessed that there was a debate on this! Not sure why I find it fascinating...it's a bit comical to me lol. Thanks for letting me know :).

[@MultiSteveB]

Do you find that this game has some strategy similarities to Go?

[@_texan306]

"Yay"

[@chemartinez3252]

5:21 druuuuuuuugs man

[@carpepesci]

Now that's sarcasm. *clap clap clap*

[@LegoBro]

Best way to play is with M&M's and Skittles, winner gets to eat them all :)

[@phaedruscj3330]

lol play with a germ spreading rug rat who was handled all the game pieces! :)

[@LegoBro]

It amuses me greatly that my original comment could be older than said rug rat. Maybe use wrapped candies?

[@jeffharmed1616]

If you have not figured it out yet, I know a way to make a wooden hex board with perfectly aligned segments and requiring no skills whatsoever.

[@recklessroges]

You could share with the class? (Or be pointlessly elusive.)

[@sherriandalan]

"Not tonight".

[@TravisL.Desmadreson]

fume for reality, kewl. pz to all.

[@lekoman]

Yeah, I felt cheated that you didn't tell me the rules. :( I don't care so much about who invented it... how do I play?! (Okay, okay, I'll go look it up... blegh)

[@neopalm2050]

it seems simple enough just by looking at the example game

[@mr.marker9354]

no the object of the game is to populate the board with your color

[@Greennoob2]

White didn't have a clue

[@pocket83]

It was an impromptu demonstration. While I'm sure that your staggering intellect provides you with an omnilateral capability that extends to virtually all facets of competitive gameplay, some of us are only muggles, who might, in cases, only learn a game to play it once out of necessity, just to clumsily then dance for you, that you might take the example as evidence of your own shrewd acumen. Or maybe it's you doesn't have a clue.

[@johannesrichter2927]

man, it was a disappointment to see the pointless moves of the whites at the final stage of the game. :-(

[@pocket83]

Ms. pocket had been playing for minutes; she was instructed on the basic premise of the game, and then forced to play while being recorded. I am sorry that this _demonstration_ has failed to meet your standard.

[@johannesrichter2927]

pocket83 never mind. the game is awesome though, and your board is really nice. :agree:

[@pocket83]

Johannes Richter Thanks- I was ready to bite your head off. I can deal with some nasty comments, but for the few times that she has made an appearance, I will simply not tolerate it being spewed in her direction.

[@johannesrichter2927]

pocket83 well, have you two practiced? do your games represent the pinnacle of astounding flexing of the logical muscles today? p.s. i own a soviet mass produced board, played the game a lot as a kid, it rocks. and it was a nice surprise when i learnt that the inventor John Nash was the geek from the beautiful mind.

[@pocket83]

Johannes Richter We've played a few times. To be honest, the game we play competitively the most often is Othello on the NES. We own the board game, but the Nintendo version is much faster. We have different skills for different games, but Othello places us on reasonably equal ground.

[@kratheothecrazy3116]

not tonight xD

[@chemartinez3252]

you definetly have a lot of time off

[@DEO777]

A 3D printer will build this a lot more easily.

[@pocket83]

Ideally, I would rub my magic lamp, and a young Barbara Eden would present me with my new golden hex board.

[@SailorBarsoom]

pocket83 I like the way you think.

[@CafeenMan]

You have crud inside at least two tubes that I see. You can't play a proper game with cruddy tubes so the "win" doesn't count. Sorry, that's just basic science. You should have known better...

[@Blinkation]

this game is stupid! whoever get the first turn will always win unless one of the players don't know how to play.

[@ChristopherKing288]

Haim Bilia that's true of any board game (or it always ties or the second player always wins).

[@FrancisPelletier]

White did go first in this game.. It is very strategic for a game.