A HEX variant. New?

[Bill Taylor]

I describe a simple Hex variant.

An e-pal of mine and I have been playing it for a little while, and it
seems to have considerable depth, perhaps even more than Hex itself.

Yet it is a very simple and obvious variant - we feel it must *surely*
have been noticed before, and perhaps even written about.

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It is merely standard Hex, with one player having the north & south edges,
and the other having east & west, as usual; and the players playing black
and white stones, as usual; BUT - either player may play either colour of
stone on any turn. A win is a join of your pair of edges by EITHER colour,
with mover winning if this happens to both simultaneously.
Moving is compulsory.
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We call it "Chameleon Hex", due to the ability to change colors at any time.

Anyone else know anything about it?

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Bill Taylor W.Ta...@math.canterbury.ac.nz
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No - I'm *not* cheating my employer by spending 3 hours a day on the net -
I'm just using the time I would have spent on chess problems and solitaire
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