Tantrix

Players place hexagonal tiles to create the longest line or loop.
Publication	1988
Players	1–4
Setup time	1 minute
Playing time	30 minutes
Chance	Medium
Skills	Strategic thought

Tantrix is a hexagonal tile-based abstract game invented by Mike McManaway from New Zealand. Each of the 56 different tiles in the set contains three lines, going from one edge of the tile to another. No two lines on a tile have the same colour. There are four colours in the set: red, yellow, blue, and green. No two tiles are identical, and each is individually numbered from 1 through 56.

Gameplay

In the multiplayer version of the game, each player chooses a colour, so there are between two and four players. Each draws one tile from the bag, and the person who draws the highest number goes first.

Playing Tantrix

Each player then takes five more tiles from the bag, and places all six tiles face up in front of them. The first person plays one tile, usually with their colour on it. Play then rotates clockwise. After playing a tile, each player takes a replacement tile from the bag, so that they always have six in front of them. Tiles played must match the colour of the edges adjoining it.

When three tiles surround an empty space so that it is effectively half covered this is called a forced space. If the person whose turn it is has a tile that fills that space they must play it. The player repeats this process until there are no more forced spaces that they can fill, at which stage they make a free move, where they can play any tile as long as they don't breach the three restriction rules given below. Once they have had a free move, they must then fill any more forced spaces that they can. Thus one player's turn can consist of several moves.

The three restriction rules are:

Once there are no tiles left in the bag, the three restriction rules do not apply.

The aim of the game is to get the longest line or loop in your colour. Each tile in a line counts as one point, and in a loop is two points. Only the highest-scoring line or loop counts.

History

The first version of Tantrix was created by Mike McManaway in 1988 and was called Mind Game. It used 56 cardboard pieces with only two coloured lines, red and black. Owning a games shop, McManaway sold the game directly and following customer feedback continued to change the rules and design. In 1991, the tiles were changed to plastic and two more colours were added, allowing for four-player games.

The 16 possible tiles (necklaces) with the colours red, yellow and green – on the right the triple intersections, which were taken out of the game

The tiles were (and still are) hand-painted, featuring different colours to those now used, even pink. The early form of the game featured eight "triple intersections", but these were found to slow the game play as they only fitted into three different forced spaces (compared to six for all other tiles). So in 1993, the triple intersections were removed from the game.^[1]

Along with the multiplayer version of the game, McManaway created smaller solitaire puzzles using 10 or 12 tiles that required the player to put the tiles together to create loops of certain colours.

McManaway has also created many solitaire puzzles, including 3-D versions, match only versions (requiring players to colour match tiles within a confined space) and loop and line versions (requiring players to use all the nominated tiles to complete a loop or line in a specific colour). However many of the editions are no longer available.

The main versions sold in most countries are:

1. Tantrix Discovery: A solo version, consisting of 10 tiles, where players attempt puzzles that take between 30 seconds and 45 minutes.
2. Tantrix Solitaire: A set of 14 tiles designed to play Tantrix Solitaire combined with expanded Tantrix Discovery puzzles.
3. Tantrix Match: Tantrix meets sudoku. A number of pre-placed clues controls the difficulty of each puzzle.
4. Tantrix Game Pack: A bag with all 56 Tantrix tiles, with which players can play all editions of Tantrix.

Tantrix got its first big contract in 1994 when Air France bought the game to give to children on its flights.^[2] In 2003 Tantrix was named Toy of the Year in Hungary and won the British National Association of Toy and Leisure Libraries gold award in the games category.^[3]

Tileset

Tantrix Tiles^[4]

Yellow-Red-Blue-(Green)					Yellow-Red-(Blue)-Green					(Yellow)-Red-Blue-Green					Yellow-(Red)-Blue-Green
No.	VN	Pattern	Image		No.	VN	Pattern	Image		No.	VN	Pattern	Image		No.	VN	Pattern	Image
3	003	abbcca YRRBBY			23	003	abbcca GYYRRG
					21	003	baaccb YGGRRY
					31	021	accbab YGGRYR
1	021	baacbc RYYBRB			17	021	baacbc RYYGRG
															52	021	bccaba BGGYBY
12	021	cbbaca BRRYBY			20	021	cbbaca GRRYGY								56	021	cbbaca GBBYGY
2	102	caacbb BYYBRR			22	102	caacbb GYYGRR
															44	120	abcacb YBGYGB
9	120	bcabac RBYRYB													50	120	bcabac BGYBYG
										28	003	abbcca RBBGGR
										25	003	baaccb BRRGGB
11	021	abbcac YRRBYB			19	021	abbcac YRRGYG								55	021	abbcac YBBGYG
										29	021	baacbc BRRGBG			53	021	baacbc BYYGBG
10	021	caabcb BYYRBR			18	021	caabcb GYYRGR			27	021	caabcb GRRBGB			54	021	caabcb GYYBGB
					16	102	abbacc YRRYGG			30	102	abbacc RBBRGG
5	102	bccbaa RBBRYY			15	102	bccbaa RGGRYY			24	102	bccbaa BGGBRR			48	102	bccbaa BGGBYY
										26	102	caacbb GRRGBB			49	102	caacbb GYYGBB
4	120	cabcba BYRBRY													51	120	cabcba GYBGBY
14	003	baaccb RYYBBR													43	003	baaccb BYYGGB
8	021	accbab YBBRYR								41	021	accbab RGGBRB
7	021	bccaba RBBYRY
13	102	abbacc YRRYBB
6	120	abcacb YRBYBR								42	120	abcacb RBGRGB
										40	120	bcabac BGRBRG
										39	120	cabcba GRBGBR
															45	003	abbcca YBBGGY
										37	021	abbcac RBBGRG
															46	021	accbab YGGBYB
					33	021	bccaba RGGYRY			36	021	bccaba BGGRBR
										38	021	cbbaca GBBRGR
															47	102	abbacc YBBYGG
					35	120	abcacb YRGYGR
					34	120	bcabac RGYRYG
					32	120	cabcba GYRGRY
Triple intersections removed from the set
61	300	abcabc YRBYRB			57	300	abcabc YRGYRG			63	300	abcabc RBGRBG			59	300	abcabc YBGYBG
62	300	acbacb YBRYBR			58	300	acbacb YGRYGR			64	300	acbacb RGBRGB			60	300	acbacb YGBYGB

See also

• Black Path Game
• List of world championships in mind sports
• Palago, a hexagonal tile game co-invented by Mike McManaway
• Serpentiles
• Trax, a connection game played with similar tiles but different gameplay

Notes

External links

• Official Tantrix website, including the history of Tantrix and Tournaments and online play.
• Tantrix an online Tantrix puzzle
• Tantrix at BoardGameGeek
• Tantrix puzzles and their solutions