Poly-Y

The game commences with the board vacant of counters.

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

Poly-Y does not have a standard board. It can be played on any board that has the following characteristics:

  • An equal number of cells along each side

  • An odd number of sides; 5- and 9-sided boards are preferred

  • Tessellated by mostly six-sided cells

Additionally, some number of black and white counters are also required for play. The number depends on the size of board being used.

History

Poly-y was developed or evolved from the earlier game of Y by Craige Schensted and Charles Titus around 1970. Poly-y is the evolutionary precursor to the games Star and *Star.

Objective

The objective is to capture the majority of corners of the board. A player captures a corner by making a "Y" with his pieces that connects the two sides adjacent to the corner with any other side of the board.

Play

Strategy

Variations

Numerous boards have been designed and utilized for the play of Poly-Y.

Sources

  1. Schensted, Craige and Charles Titus. Mudcrack Y & Poly-Y. NEO Press, 1975. ISBN 0-911014-23-3

  2. Browne, Cameron. Connection Games: Variations on a Theme. A K Peters/CRC Press, 2005. ISBN 978-1568812243