HEXX Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Setup
• Game Play
• What Makes a Valid Word?
  • Primary & Secondary Words
  • Flipping Tiles
  • Can't Play a Word
• Game End
• Sample Game Play
  • Turn #1 - Black
  • Turn #2 - Red
  • Turn #3 - Black
  • Turn #4 - Red
  • Words Must Be Proper When Played
  • Turn #5 - Black
  • Turn #6 - Red
  • Turn #7 - Black (Playing a HEXX Tile)
• HEXX Tiles & The HEXX Board
• Resolving a HEXX
• The HEXX Board
• The HEXX's
• Hexx Rule Notes

Game Setup

• Place all the letter and HEXX tiles in the small black bag.
• Set the game board between players so that both players have a sideways view. (You can place the game board in any orientation, but this is optimal for flipping the tiles.)
• Place the HEXX board to the side of the game board, with the die on top of it.
• Each player draws 6 tiles from the bag to form their "hand".
• One player will be 'red' and one will be 'black'.
• Flip a tile, the color that comes up will be the starting player.

RULE CHOICE: Before starting, decide if adding an "s" to a word creates a new word (this option is good for beginners, but is not recommend in regular play).

Game Play

The starting player lays down a word in their color, with one tile in the center space. After playing a word, that player refills their hand to 6 tiles by drawing them from the bag.

• Players alternate turns placing letter tiles on a single line to make a new primary and possibly secondary word(s).
• New words must connect to an existing word or tile(s) already in play (Fig. 1).
• Words can be played in any direction; horizontal, diagonal (both ways) as well as forwards and backwards (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 are diagrams of valid placements.

What Makes a Valid Word?

Words only need to be valid on the line at the time they are played. The word must include all tiles in that line – not just part of the line. (See Page #6 for an example.)

Words must be found in a dictionary of your choice, and cannot be proper names / places or abbreviations. (Words must be 2 letters minimum.)

Primary & Secondary Words

The primary word is the word created by placing tiles onto a single line. Secondary words are any words created as a result of the primary word's creation.

Flipping Tiles

When a new word is created, the player who created that word flips all the tiles that are part of that primary word and any secondary words created through that action to their own color.

Can't Play a Word

If a player cannot play a valid word, they can choose from 1 to 6 tiles in their hand to discard back into the bag, shuffle the bag, and draw back up to 6 tiles. (This move counts as their turn).

Game End

Players continue to make words and draw letter tiles from the bag until the bag has no more tiles. Play then continues with the remaining tiles in each players' hand.

If all tiles are drawn and a player cannot play any tiles, they pass their turn. This will continue until the last tile has been played or neither player can create any new words.

Once a player has played the last tiles in their hand, the opposing player has one last turn to play any remaining tiles they can.

After the final turn, each player counts the number of tiles of their color on the board. The player with the most tiles in their color wins.

Sample Game Play

The next pages (4 to 9) show the start of a game, illustrating players' moves and outcomes.

Turn #1 - Black

The player who's playing the 'black' side of the tiles won the tile flip and goes first. They play 'WORD' onto the game board, with one of the letters crossing over the center spot.

Turn #2 - Red

The player plays an 'A' and 'T' onto the board to form the word 'ART' as their primary word, also creating 'TO' as a secondary word. Any letters that are part of the words that were formed flip to their color, in this case the 'O' and 'R' flip to red.

End of Turn #2. Legend: Black tile played / Red tile played / Black tile word created / Red tile word created / HEXX tile showing letter played / 'Black' Primary Word / 'Black' Secondary Word(s) / 'Red' Primary Word / 'Red' Secondary Word(s); Tile played / Tile to flip / HEXX tile + letter played.

Turn #3 - Black

The player plays a 'G', 'L' and 'F' to create the primary word 'GOLF' and the secondary word 'FAD', flipping the 'O' and 'A' to black.

End of Turn #3.

Turn #4 - Red

The player plays an 'S' to create the word SWORD, flipping the 'W', 'O' and 'D' to red in the process.

End of Turn #4.

Words Must Be Proper When Played

Words that are played must be proper words at the time they are played and not be part of a longer string of letters. In this case, playing 'G', 'I' and 'R', to create GIRL does not work – the resulting word would be 'GIRLR'.

In the following example; playing a 'G' and 'I' upwards creates the proper word 'GIRL'.

The color of the tiles makes no difference in defining a word's start and stop points, for the purposes of placement colors make no difference.

Turn #5 - Black

The player plays a 'G' and 'I' creating the word 'GIRL', flipping the 'R' to black in the process.

End of Turn #5.

Turn #6 - Red

The player plays an 'S' and 'P' to create the word 'STRAP', flipping the 'R' and 'A' in the process.

End of Turn #6.

Turn #7 - Black (Playing a HEXX Tile)

The player plays a 'HEXX' tile as a 'P' (HEXX tiles can be any letter) and an 'A' to create 'ATOP' as their primary word, also creating 'ALP', 'AID' and 'GAS' (or 'SAG') as their secondary words. In the process they flip 'S', 'T', 'O', 'A' and 'D' to black.

When a HEXX tile is played, the player that played the tile must resolve the HEXX.

Turn #7, before HEXX.

End of Turn #7 (see Resolving a HEXX below for the HEXX result).

HEXX Tiles & The HEXX Board

There are six HEXX tiles mixed with the letter tiles that can be used as any letter to make a proper word. The HEXX tile remains that letter for the rest of the game.

The first time a HEXX tile is played, the player who played it must roll the die to cast a HEXX (flipping the color of a HEXX tile does not activate it again.)

A HEXX takes effect after you redraw tiles back to 6, and before your opponent takes their turn, (unless otherwise instructed).

Resolving a HEXX

Once a HEXX tile is played, the player must resolve the HEXX immediately after redrawing their tiles back up to 6.

Roll the die to see which HEXX on the HEXX board applies, and follow the action shown.

In this example; the player rolled a '4', giving them the Reversal of Fortune HEXX (flip the word just played to your opponent's color). Resulting in 'ATOP' flipping to the opponent's color, (in this case red).

The HEXX Board

The HEXX's are listed below by their number on the HEXX board. The board's abbreviated card text for 14 omits "and keep the Hexx tile"; the list below gives the full wording as printed in the Hexx list.

The HEXX's

1. Take Two You get another turn.

2. Take Two Your opponent gets to play twice on their next turn.

3. Poached Pair Flip any two tiles on the game board to your color.

4. Reversal of Fortune Flip the word just played to your opponent's color.

5. Collateral Damage Flip all tiles that touch the word that was just played to your color.

6. Poached Pair Your opponent gets to flip any two tiles on the game board to their color.

7. Lost Origin* Remove the first word played on the game board and place the letters back in the bag.

8. Collateral Damage Flip all tiles that touch the word that was just played to your opponent's color.

9. Metamorphosis On your next turn, swap out any letter on the game board to create a new word, changing the entire word to your color. Otherwise you forfeit your turn.

10. Doppelgänger Choose a vowel and flip all instances of that vowel on the game board to your color.

Hexx Rule Notes

* - In the event you roll this more than once during a game – reroll for another HEXX.

• If this word has been changed during gameplay, remove the tiles where the original word was played on the game board (not any additions or extensions).

** - If there aren't enough tiles to complete this HEXX – reroll for another HEXX.