Check out this video to see how to play Hackenbush:
If you want to play this game, I suggest having one person draw any starting position they’d like. The other player chooses colors and goes first.
I find this game to be much more fun to analyze than it is to play–there seems to be a curious connection between familiar numbers and Hackenbush positions.
I’ll leave the ball in your court.
- Check that this game from the end of the video is actually a zero game.
- What number makes sense for this mystery position called bluered?
- Can you make sense of a position that is three pieces tall? Say blueredred?
- What other numbers can you find on the Hackenbush Number Line?
Paul Gafni 