Trail Mix

Trail Mix is a two-player abstract connection game in which each player is restricted to a single diagonal direction and has the goal of completing a trail that connects either pair of opposite sides of the board.

Components

A 7 x 7 square board
Two sets of 20 diagonal trail tokens; one brown and one green.

Setup

Place the empty board between the players.

Figure 1. A completed game.
There is a winning trail that connects the bottom (c1) and top (g7) sides. Note that the winning trail can touch a third side. Green won this game --- there was a total of 30 tokens played!

Game Play

Starting with the Brown player, players alternate turns placing one of their trail tokens in any empty cell. A player may not pass a turn.

Movement Restrictions

Brown always places his or her tokens as slash ('/') diagonals and
Green always places his or her tokens as back-slash ('\') diagonals.

Definition

Diagonals are connected, regardless of color, if they meet at their endpoints.

Clarification

Each of the four corner of the board belongs to two sides of the board. For example, a trail starting at the lower right corner (g1) would win if the trail connected to the top or left side of the board.

Game End

The game ends when either player completes a trail of diagonals that connects opposite sides of the board; top to bottom or left to right. The player completing the trail wins the game.

Figure 2. End game.
Brown has just played 23. Ba3!?. Green wins in four moves. The solution can be found in the Designer Comments section.

Designer Comments

Trail Mix is a challenging game and requires concentration especially in the end game. The early game is quiet with players usually playing for the center diagonals. In the middle game players start setting up forced moves. Players most often win by forcing opponent's to make one or more losing moves. Blunders are common if a player does not use foresight.

Check out Figure 2 for a sample end game, Brown has just played 23. Ba3!??, thinking to force 24. Gf4.

Here is the solution: 24. Gf4, 25. Bd2, 26. Gg1!, 27. Be3, 28. Gb3!! 29. Bc2, 30. Gc1 wins! See Figure 1 for the completed game.

Please note that these game rules may be duplicated and distributed via the web but the rules may not be altered and full credit must be given to the designer, Phil Leduc. Otherwise, all rights are reserved. Those that wish to program or sell this game in any form should contact the author at philleduc.pled@gmail.com for permission or a license to do so.