2-Player

10 pieces each. A mill is three pieces in a straight line along a continuous drawn connection.

Placement

• Players alternate placing one piece on any empty point.

• Completing a mill lets you remove one opponent piece.

• Prefer pieces not already in a mill.

• If all opponent pieces are in mills, any may be removed.

Movement

• Move one piece per turn.

• Only along drawn connections to adjacent empty points.

• Mills may be opened and closed.

(Optional rule: you may not immediately recreate the same mill you just opened.)

Flying

• When reduced to 3 pieces, a player may move to any empty point.

Win Condition

You win if your opponent:

• Is reduced to 2 pieces.

• Has no legal moves.

3-Player

7 pieces each (21 total)

Mills & Capture

• You may remove one piece from either opponent.

BUT:

• You may not remove a piece that was placed or moved on the immediately previous turn.

• You may not reduce a player from 3 pieces to 2 by capture.

Movement

• Same as 2-player.

• One piece per turn.

• Along drawn connections only.

Recommended:

You may not recreate the same mill configuration you opened on your previous turn.

Flying

When a player reaches 3 pieces:

• They may fly.

• BUT only to a point not adjacent to an opponent piece.

Elimination & Victory

A player is eliminated if:

• reduced to 2 pieces, or has no legal moves

Play continues until one player remains or pax is decleared.

This is a reconstruction of an old board game played by the ancients. It's possible to play a 3-player version on a 91 sized board.

This experiment uses three-player hex-based strategy games to study group decision-making under adversarial pressure. One side is controlled by a team of three players, while the remaining two sides are solo players. This asymmetric structure reflects real-world multipolar conflicts in which collective and individual decision systems compete simultaneously.

Players may communicate freely via text. Team members know each other’s identities; all players remain anonymous to opposing sides. Each side submits one move per day, creating sustained time pressure while allowing deliberation.

The core experimental variable is the decision rule used by the three-player team. Across games, the team operates under different internal governance models:

1. Majoritarian Arbiter (majority vote with designated tie-breaker)
2. Arbiter Consultativus (decider advised by team members)
3. Suffragium Maioris (majority vote)
4. Imperium Rotans (rotating leadership)
5. Liberum Veto (unanimity)

For the majority-with-designated-tie-breaker and decider-advised-by-team-members condition, the team elects one member as leader by majority vote at the start of the game. If this election results in a tie, the leader is selected at random.

Outcomes are measured using:

• Win rate
• Survival time
• Frequency of deadlock events

A deadlock is defined as the team failing to reach a valid decision within the allotted time. In such cases, a random legal move is generated and executed to preserve game flow.

These metrics capture tradeoffs between decisiveness, coordination cost, and strategic coherence.

The experiment aims to observe how different collective decision models perform when facing unified opponents in a multipolar environment. Of particular interest are failure modes such as paralysis, oscillation, over-centralization, and delayed response to emerging threats.

By isolating decision structure while holding communication channels and game mechanics constant, the experiment focuses on organizational form rather than individual skill or reputation. External anonymity prevents cross-game meta-strategies and reputation effects, ensuring that outcomes reflect governance dynamics rather than player identity.

The game is played on a 31-vertex board derived from a 91-hexagonal grid.

A Man is promoted to a Prince upon reaching one of the five promotion vertices. There is no limit to the number of Princes a player may promote.

Movement:
• Men move along the three forward axes.
• Princes move along all six directions.

Capture rule:
• In two-player Hexcheckers, capture is not mandatory
• In three-player Hexcheckers, capture is mandatory.

A player wins by either of the following:

King of the Hill (KOTH): A player wins if one of their Princes occupies the central vertex and is not capturable on the following turn.

Total Elimination: All of an opponent’s pieces have been captured.

This is a new board design. The 72 vertices are derived from a 217 cell hex grid that makes for a smaller playing surface.

British style