Entropy (board game)

Entropy is an abstract strategy board game for two players designed by Eric Solomon in 1977. The game is "based on the eternal conflict in the universe between order and chaos [...] One player is Order, the other Chaos. Order is trying to make patterns vertically and horizontally. Chaos is trying to prevent this."mozai.com The game originally employed a 5×5 gameboard, but in 2000 a 7x7 board was introduced to allow deeper strategies.

Entropy was awarded a rare 6 out of 6 by Games & Puzzles Magazine in 1981.Entropy, Mind Sports Olympiad supplement, p 8, The Times, 11 August 1997, online version available from studiogiochi MSO archives David Pritchard called the game "a modern classic". It is sold commercially under the names Hyle (a 5×5 board) and Hyle7 (a 7×7 board).

Rules The gameboard is a square grid of 7×7 cells. A game consists of two rounds. Each round starts with the board empty, and a bag containing 49 chips in seven colours.

The first player to move (Chaos) draws coloured chips at random from the bag and places each one on the board in an empty cell. For each chip that is placed, the second player (Order) may slide any chip horizontally or vertically any distance through empty cells, to rest in a currently empty cell, without jumping over any other chips already on the board. When the board becomes full, the round is finished. Order scores 1 point for each chip in any palindromic pattern of chip colours (e.g. red–green–blue–green–red scores 3 + 5 = 8 points; red–red–red scores 2 + 2 + 3 = 7 points) occurring either horizontally or vertically.Article about Entropy, http://www.boardability.com/game.php?id=entropy , Retrieved on 6 September 2010. The players reverse roles and play a second round. The player with the higher score as Order wins the game and draws are possible.

Championships The game has been included as one of the events at the annual Mind Sports Olympiad since its inception. Demis Hassabis had won this event a record five times until losing in 2007.https://msodb.playstrategy.org/Report/GameMedals?gameCode=EN Demis' record was broken in 2021 by David Jameson (Wales) who won his sixth title, extending the record in 2023. The event has also been won by Hassabis's brother George and by other Pentamind champions, David M. Pearce, Alain Dekker, Paco Garcia de la Banda and Andres Kuusk.

1997: Murray Heasman 1998: Peter Horlock 1999: George Hassabis 2000: Demis Hassabis 2001: Demis Hassabis 2002: David M. Pearce 2003: Demis Hassabis 2004: Demis Hassabis 2005: Peter Horlock 2006: Demis Hassabis 2007: David M. Pearce 2008: Peter Horlock 2009: Alain Dekker 2010: Paco Garcia de la Banda 2011: Peter Horlock 2012: Andres Kuusk 2013: Andres Kuusk 2014: David Jameson 2015: Andres Kuusk 2016: David Jameson 2017: David Jameson 2018: David Jameson 2019: David Jameson 2020: David Jameson 2021: Paul Kolk 2022: Alain Dekker 2023: David Jameson 2024: Alain Dekker 2025: Andres Kuusk

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Bibliography

Entropy (board game)

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