Description

Bide is a combinatorial, abstract strategy game for 2-6 players played on a hexagonal or square board which is initially empty (hex-hex base 5 is recommended). Bide was designed by Alek Erickson in May 2020.

Players can skip turns to get extra turns later:
Players take turns placing stones of their color in the hexagonal cells. At the beginning of your turn, you are given a new stone. You can either play it, or "bide" (meaning wait). If you bide, set the stone aside and your turn ends immediately. The stone remains in your hand. If you play the new stone while having at least one stone still in hand, you may "release" (meaning play every stone in your hand in succession). If a player releases, all opponents must immediately release next turn, including their stone for that turn.

Stones create shock waves:
When a stone is placed, it creates a "shock wave": all adjacent stones move one space in the direction radially outward from the placement. If there are multiple connected stones adjacent to the placed stone, positioned directly in the line of the shock wave, they all move one space. If this movement causes a stone to bump into another stone directly in the line of the shock wave, that stone also gets pushed one space (becoming adjacent along a different grid line does not count). However, stones cannot be pushed past the edges of the board, and lines that are full between the edges and placed stone do not move.

Players get points for owning the center:
When the board is full, players score the position. Each stone is worth points equal to its distance from the nearest edge (starting at zero). Groups consist of connected, adjacent stones of a single color. Groups are worth the sum of their stones. The player with the highest scoring group wins. If tied, remove the outer-most ring of pieces and re-score, repeating this process until there is a winner.

—description from the designer