Havannah

Two different sized boards used to play Havannah

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

There are two different boards which are commonly used to play this game: a Small Havannah board and a Large Havannah board. The small board has a total of 169 cells which means that up to 85 counters may be required for each player, but far less are typically required in practice. Up to 136 counters each are theoretically required for play on the large board with 271 cells.

History

Havannah was invented by Christian Freeling in 1976. It was formerly published in Germany by Ravensburger.

Objective

A player must achieve an unbroken line of one of three structures to win the game. The first player to create an unbroken line, in their color, of any one of these structures wins. The structures are as follows:

  • Ring: A loop around one or more points, which can be occupied or unoccupied.

  • Bridge: A connection between any two of the six corners of the board.

  • Fork: A “Y” formation that connects any three sides of the board. Sides do not include corner positions.

All three of the winning structures are shown in the diagram below.

Play

Alternate turns entail placing counters inside the cells one at a time. Counters are never moved or captured.

Strategy

Variations

Advanced players tend to prefer the larger board.

Sources

  1. Schmittberger, R. Wayne. New Rules for Classic Games. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, 1992. ISBN 0-471-53621-0

  2. Neto, Joāo Pedro and Jorge Nuno Silva. Mathematical Games, Abstract Games. Dover Publications, Inc. 2013. ISBN 978-0-486-49990-1