Star (board game)

Unlike these games, however, the result is based on a player having a higher final score rather than achieving a specific goal.

[2] Players may not place stones on the partial hexagon border cells off the edge of the board; these are used for scoring.

A "star" is a group of connected stones belonging to one player that touches at least three partial-hex border cells.

Although this single change would not have been sufficient for White to win, it illustrates the reward for connecting stars.

Schensted felt this was an unfair advantage and proposed a rule change to make these cells worth two points each instead.

Each player occupied three corner cells in this example, so the score is reduced by three points each using the modified board.

During one of their games, they decided to grant a bonus to the player who more effectively linked their groups together to avoid ties, resulting in the rules for Star.