Vectress

How it works

• Every piece is a magnet. Its shape decides how it moves and which of its side faces are red (+) and which are blue (−). Nothing happens while a piece travels; when it comes to rest, its neighbours react.
• Like poles shove one cell apart. Unlike poles snap together into a rigid body that moves as one, whoever moves it. Whatever moved then acts on its own neighbours, wave after wave, until the board settles.
• A piece shoved over the edge is gone, and the board does not care whose it was. Your move is where you put the force in; the board is the machine.

The four pieces

Every piece moves one or two cells, only along the directions its shape allows. Your pieces are the pale ones and they face up the screen, so what you see is what your opponent sees from their seat.

• WedgeThe two forward diagonals, or straight back. Red on both slanted faces, blue only on its base.
• BlockForward, back, left, right. Red front and right, blue back and left, so a row of them locks together.
• KiteThe four diagonals. Red forward faces, blue rear faces, and nothing at all on its two side points.
• CoreAny of the eight directions. Red across its front arc, blue behind. Lose it and you lose the game.

Bodies

Bonded pieces move as one, and either owner may move the whole body with their own piece in it. Bonding to an enemy piece is a grab: you can drag it toward the edge. It is also a risk, because now they can drag you. On your turn you can always pull a piece free of its body instead, at the cost of the turn.

Winning

Knock the enemy Core off the board, or five of their pieces. A move may not undo the board to how it stood before your opponent's last move, so two bodies cannot shove each other back and forth forever.

Read the full rules