Agon

Agon is one of the oldest abstract strategy games with fully recorded rules, documented in France in 1842. It is played on a hexagonal board of 91 hexagons and won by being the first player to maneuver their Queen into the center hexagon surrounded by all six Guards.

Board

The board is a regular hexagon composed of 91 smaller hexagons, arranged in 6 concentric rings around a single center hexagon.

• Center hex: 1
• Ring 1: 6 hexes
• Ring 2: 12 hexes
• Ring 3: 18 hexes
• Ring 4: 24 hexes
• Ring 5: 30 hexes

Total: 91 hexes.

The center hex (ring 0) is the goal. The outer ring (ring 5) is the perimeter, where the pieces start and where a captured Guard returns.

Pieces

Each player has:

• 1 Queen (distinct color and shape)
• 6 Guards

Pieces are differentiated by color (e.g., White and Black).

Starting Position

Both players’ Queens start on the outer ring, on opposite sides of the board. The 6 Guards of each player occupy 6 of the remaining outer-ring positions near their Queen, spread symmetrically. The center hexes begin empty.

In some editions, pieces are placed during the first moves of the game rather than from a fixed starting position. Either method is acceptable; fix one method before play begins.

Movement

On each turn, a player moves one of their pieces one step to an adjacent vacant hex, either sideways within the same ring or inward to the next ring. A piece never moves outward, and never onto an occupied hex.

Only a Queen may enter the centre hex (the throne).

Capture

Capture in Agon is by custodianship: a piece is captured when two enemy pieces stand on either side of it in a straight line.

• The capture is made by the move that completes the line. A player may move a piece between two enemy pieces without it being captured.
• If one move completes lines on more than one side, every piece so flanked is captured.

Returning to Play

A captured piece does not leave the game. On their next turn, instead of moving a piece, its owner must put it back:

• a captured Guard goes on any vacant hex of the outer ring;
• a captured Queen goes on any vacant hex of the board.

If more than one piece was captured, the owner returns one per turn, and the Queen first.

Win Condition

A player wins by achieving the following position simultaneously:

• Their Queen is on the center hex, AND
• All six Guards occupy the six hexes adjacent to the center (ring 1).

The center hex and its six neighbors must be entirely occupied by one player’s pieces: Queen in center, Guards surrounding.

This position must be achieved at the end of the winning player’s turn.

Draw

If neither player can achieve the winning position and the game has been going on for a very long time without progress, players may agree to a draw. No mandatory draw rule exists in the classic rules.

Strategy Notes

Achieving the win requires coordinating the Queen’s journey to the center with positioning all six Guards around the center simultaneously. Because Guards that are captured are returned to the outer ring (not permanently lost), the opponent can persistently disrupt the approach by capturing Guards and forcing the player to spend turns returning them rather than advancing.

The key strategic challenge: advance Guards toward the center while protecting them from custodian captures, and time the Queen’s arrival at the center with the Guards’ positioning.

Attribution

Agon. Documented in France, 1842; described in British and American game books from the 1870s onward. Public domain. Documented at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agon_(game) and cyningstan.com. Rules confirmed from historical game literature and Sid Sackson’s A Gamut of Games (1969).