Exxit Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• General Rules
• Play
  • 1. Destruction Dance
  • 2. Build The World
    • Enlarge The World
    • Place a Disc
  • 3. Pass
• End of the Game
• Scoring
• Variants
  • Different Skill Levels
  • Two Experienced Players
  • Blitz Game

Components

• 39 reversible hexagonal tiles (red/silver)
• 8 red stackable discs
• 8 silver stackable discs
• Carrying case

Setup

Form The World by placing 4 hexes in a diamond shape, with two silver hexes touching, and two red hexes separated by the two silver.

General Rules

1. Any stack with your disc on top is considered your stack.
2. The World is surrounded by a perimeter of tileless hexes, which are considered perimeter spaces.

Play

Silver plays first.

On your turn, you must do the first, and only the first, of the following actions that you can do:

1. If a Destruction Dance is possible, you must make the one of your choice, respecting the following: If any possible Destruction Dances would drop discs on perimeter spaces, you must choose one of those.
2. Build The World: Either Enlarge The World or Place a Disc.
3. Pass.

1. Destruction Dance

A Destruction Dance entails picking up your stack, and moving in a straight, "orthogonal" line, dropping one disc from the bottom on each space (not counting the starting space). The following conditions enable and require a Destruction Dance:

• There is a straight, unobstructed, "orthogonal" line from your stack to an opponent's stack.
• Your opponent's stack is not taller than your stack.
• Some disc from your stack will land on your opponent's stack.
• If the top disc(s) of your stack would land in a perimeter space, that perimeter space is currently empty.

Example: Consider the 2-tall silver stack. To its left, there is a 3-tall red stack; because the 3-stack is taller, it cannot cause a Destruction Dance. Above it, there is a red 1-stack, but it is too far away for a Destruction Dance to drop a disc on it; it cannot cause a Destruction Dance. To its right, there is a red 2-stack, no taller than, and close enough to the silver 2-stack. Silver must do a Destruction Dance in that direction, as depicted.

Example: Silver must do a Destruction Dance that drops a stack (of 1, as it turns out) onto a perimeter space. As a result, now Red will also have to do a Destruction Dance.

Example: Silver cannot do a Destruction Dance, because Silver would need to drop discs in the perimeter space, and the perimeter space is already occupied.

Example: There are 3 different Destruction Dances the silver 2-stack can do, and 1 the silver 1-stack can do; however, one of the 2-silver's Destruction Dances would drop discs in a perimeter space, so this is the one Silver must do.

2. Build The World

If you could not do a Destruction Dance, you can build The World by enlarging it or placing a disc.

Enlarge The World

Replace any stack (color does not matter) that is off the edge of The World and adjacent to 2 or more hex tiles with a hex of your color. Stacks on perimeter spaces adjacent to this new hex tile now will have 2 or more hex tiles adjacent to them; replace these, as well. ...and so on, until the cascade is complete. Give the removed discs to their respective owners.

Example: Silver's turn. No Destruction Dance possible, so Silver can Build The World by removing the red stack on the perimeter space. The silver stack is not an option, because it is adjacent to only 1 hex tile.

Example: Silver's turn. Silver can add two silver hex tiles to The World, because there are two adjacent stacks on the perimeter, and one of them is already adjacent to two hex tiles. First, Silver removes the silver stack, and replaces it with a silver hex tile; this causes the red stack to be adjacent to 2 hex tiles. So, now it can be replaced with a silver hex tile, too.

Place a Disc

Place a disc of your color on any empty hex tile.

3. Pass

If you could neither do a Destruction Dance nor Build The World, you must pass.

End of the Game

The game is over when any of the following conditions occur:

• All hex tiles are part of The World.
• Both players pass consecutively.
• The same position is repeated 3 times.
• One player resigns, which is polite to do when your position is hopeless.

Scoring

Unless a player resigns, the player with the higher score wins. Look at the "islands" of your color of hex tiles in The World. Your largest island (or one of them if it's tied) scores 2 points per hex; all of your other islands score 1 point per hex.

Example: Red: 34, Silver: 25, Red wins.

Variants

Different Skill Levels

If one player is stronger than the other, you can set up The World differently to balance the game (the rulebook shows two alternative starting layouts: "Advantage for Red" and "Strong advantage for Red"; these are given as diagrams only).

Two Experienced Players

Set up The World by taking turns placing 3 hexes each of your respective color.

Blitz Game

With the standard 39 tiles, the game lasts about half an hour. You can play with merely 29 tiles for a faster game. Beginners can even play a 19-tile game in order to get the feel for the game quickly.