Claim hex cells to forge an unbroken chain between your two sides, but the tide keeps flooding the board, so connect before the sea cuts you off.
Hex Tide is the classic connection game played on a rhombic grid of hexagons, with a twist: a rising tide. Two sides take turns claiming a single empty cell. You win by completing one continuous chain of your cells linking your two edges of the board. Every few moves the sea floods a cell, telegraphed by a pulse, turning it into impassable water and shrinking the routes you can use.
The connection game is Hex, invented by Piet Hein in 1942 and popularised by John Nash: claim cells on a rhombic hex grid, and link your two edges with one unbroken chain.
The original addition is a rising tide. Every few moves the sea floods a telegraphed cell and it becomes impassable.
Hex has a famous guarantee — it cannot be drawn, because a full board always contains exactly one winning chain. Removing cells as the game runs breaks that, and it changes the tempo: a route that is provably available is not necessarily available for long, so the correct move is often the slower-looking one that gets built before the water arrives.
Hex Tide is an original, free browser build that adds a flooding-tide mechanic to the classic two-sided connection game, with three CPU levels, local two-player, and online matches. No download or sign-up required.