Tumbleweed
Tumbleweed Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Equipment
Tumbleweed is played on a hexhex board — a hexagon-shaped board made of smaller hexes, the same shape used by games such as Hive. The board can be built in several sizes, identified by the length of a side; see Choosing a Board Size below.
Each player needs a large, effectively unlimited supply of checkers (tokens) in their own color — one player is Red, the other White — plus two neutral tokens of a third, unclaimed color. Tokens are placed one on top of another to form stacks; a stack's height is simply the number of tokens in it.
Setup
Before play begins, one player (the host) chooses the board size and prepares the empty board. A stack of two neutral tokens is placed on the board's central hex.
The host then places a single starting token of their own color, followed by a single starting token of the other color, on hexes of their choosing anywhere on the board — this is the only time a player may place on a hex not seen by one of their own stacks. The guest then decides which of the two colors they want to play; Red is considered the first player and White the second. Once both starting tokens are down and the guest has chosen a color, the two players alternate taking turns for the rest of the game.
Line of Sight
The central idea in Tumbleweed is that a stack can see a hex when the two are connected by an unbroken straight line across the board, with no other stack anywhere in between. A stack's line of sight radiates outward along the board's six axial directions; anything blocking that line — friendly or enemy — stops it from seeing past that point.
Placing and Growing Stacks
On their turn, a player places a new stack of their own color on any hex that is seen by at least one of their existing stacks. The size of the newly placed stack is not chosen freely — it is fixed by the position: the new stack's height equals the number of that player's own stacks that currently see the hex being played. A hex seen by only one friendly stack gets a new stack of height 1; a hex seen by three friendly stacks gets a new stack of height 3, and so on.
A player may also place on a hex that already holds a stack — their own or their opponent's — instead of an empty one, provided the new stack they build there is taller than the stack already occupying it. Doing this:
- Replaces an opponent's stack — this is a capture, removing the enemy stack and claiming the hex.
- Replaces one of the player's own, shorter stacks — this is a reinforcement, growing that position to reflect its current line of sight.
A move that would result in a stack no taller than the one it is replacing is not legal.
Ending the Game and Scoring
Play continues, alternating turns, until neither player has any legal move left to make, or until both players pass their turn in succession. A player who has no legal move, or who simply chooses not to extend their position, may pass instead of placing a stack.
When the game ends, each player's score is the number of hexes they occupy or control. The player who occupies or controls more than half the board wins.
Choosing a Board Size
There is no single official board size; hosts pick the size that suits the players and the length of game they want:
- A 6-hex-side board plays quickly and is a good starting point for new players.
- An 8-hex-side board is the standard size for competitive games.
- A 10-hex-side board suits correspondence games or players who want a deeper, more complex struggle for territory.
- An 11-hex-side board is the largest common size, offering the most room for long-term strategy.
Notes on Play
Tumbleweed rewards patience as much as aggression: because a new stack's height is dictated entirely by how many friendly stacks already see the target hex, players build up "eyes" on a hex before contesting it, rather than committing a tall stack all at once. Since capturing or reinforcing always requires building a strictly taller stack than the one being replaced, contested hexes tend to escalate in height as both players fight to keep or take them, until one side no longer has enough line of sight to justify the fight.
Because the host places both starting tokens and the guest only chooses which color to play, the initial placement effectively works like a "pie rule": a host who sets up an unbalanced start expects their opponent to simply take the stronger color, so there is a built-in incentive to place the two starting tokens as evenly as possible.
If a long stretch of turns passes with neither player capturing a stack nor placing on a contested, empty, or opponent-controlled hex, the position has likely stabilized and there is nothing left worth fighting over; at that point, both players should pass in succession to end the game and score the board as it stands.