How to Play Agon

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Agon is a two-player abstract strategy game played on a board of 91 hexagonal cells arranged in six concentric rings. Each player controls a Queen and six Guards, and the entire contest revolves around manoeuvring those seven pieces into one precise formation at the board's centre while preventing your opponent from doing the same.

Players love it for the clarity of its objective and the surprising depth that emerges from simple movement rules. It requires no dice, no hidden information, and no luck whatsoever, making it a genuine test of spatial thinking and forward planning. It is typically played on a purpose-made hexagonal board at home or in games clubs.

A little history

Agon is one of the earliest games to use a hexagonal board. It appears in print in the 1842 edition of a French games compendium and was sold commercially in England during the latter half of the nineteenth century, which is well documented. Its deeper origins are unclear, and claims of a significantly earlier date cannot be reliably verified. It enjoyed a modest revival of interest among abstract-game enthusiasts during the twentieth century and is now recognised as a noteworthy example of Victorian-era game design.

Setting up

1. Place the board so that both players sit at opposite flat edges.
2. One player takes a Queen and six Guards in one colour; the other takes the matching set in the second colour.
3. Place each Queen on any cell in the outermost ring of the board.
4. Place each of the six Guards on any six remaining cells of the outermost ring, in any order the owning player chooses.
5. Decide who moves first by agreement or by any convenient random method.

How to play

1. Players alternate turns. On each turn a player must move exactly one of their own pieces.
2. A Queen moves to any adjacent hexagonal cell that is not already occupied by another piece, whether friendly or enemy.
3. A Guard moves to any adjacent hexagonal cell that is not already occupied by another piece.
4. Neither the Queen nor a Guard may jump over any other piece.
5. A player may not pass their turn; a move must always be made.
6. There is no capturing in Agon. Instead, a player may 'drive back' an opponent's piece.
7. To drive back an enemy piece, you must be able to move your own piece into the cell on the opposite side of the enemy piece from the direction you are approaching, trapping it between your piece and another piece (friendly or enemy) already on that opposite cell. When this happens, the driven-back piece is immediately removed from its current cell and placed by its owner on any vacant cell in the outermost ring.
8. A player may only drive back one enemy piece per turn.
9. If moving would result in your own piece being immediately driven back on your opponent's next turn, you may still make that move; there is no obligation to avoid it.
10. Play continues until one player achieves the winning position.

Winning and scoring

A player wins by placing their Queen on the single central cell of the board (the innermost cell of the six rings) and simultaneously having all six of their own Guards occupying the six cells that directly surround the central cell. All seven pieces must be in position at the end of the winning player's turn. If a player places their Queen on the centre but cannot yet surround it with all six Guards, play continues and the opponent has the opportunity to disrupt the formation by driving Guards back to the edge.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns whether a drive-back is compulsory. It is not: driving back an opponent's piece is an option, not an obligation, and a player may choose to make any legal move instead. A second frequent question is whether a piece that has been driven back must go to the outermost ring even if its owner would prefer to place it elsewhere. It must: the outermost ring is mandatory, and the owner chooses which vacant cell in that ring to use.

Another edge case arises when the Queen sits on the central cell but one or more of the surrounding six cells is occupied by an enemy Guard. The game is not won in that position; the winning player must clear or bypass the obstruction. Equally, if all six Guards surround the centre but the Queen is not yet there, the game is also not won. Both conditions must be satisfied simultaneously on the same turn.

How to win more often

• Advance your Queen steadily toward the centre early, but do not rush her there unescorted; a lone Queen on the central cell is easy to disrupt.
• Use your Guards to form a protective corridor or cluster ahead of your Queen so she can reach the centre with support already nearby.
• Drive back enemy Guards that are close to their own Queen, breaking up formations before they become a finished winning position.
• Watch which cells in the outermost ring are vacant: driving back an enemy piece gives the opponent a free placement there, so prefer to drive back pieces when the resulting replacement cannot be redeployed quickly.
• Count the moves it takes your opponent to complete their formation and compare it with your own. If they are one move ahead, prioritise disruption over development.

Variations

Alternate Starting Positions

Instead of placing all pieces on the outermost ring before play begins, some players use a setup phase in which the two players take turns placing one piece at a time onto any cell of the outermost ring. This creates an early tactical battle over starting positions and is particularly well suited to experienced players who find the standard setup gives too little opening variety.

Restricted Drive-Back Placement

In this variant, a driven-back piece must be placed on the outermost ring as normal, but only on a cell in the half of the board nearest to the player who owns it. This limits the tactical flexibility of the drive-back rule and tends to produce longer, more positional games.

Guards-Only Opening

Both Queens begin off the board and are only introduced by a player at any point during the game in place of a normal move. This forces players to develop their Guard formations without knowing exactly where the opponent's Queen will enter, adding a layer of hidden timing to an otherwise fully open-information game.

Timed Agon

Each player is given a fixed time allowance, typically 10 to 15 minutes each, tracked with a chess clock or any equivalent timer. A player who runs out of time loses immediately. This variation is popular in games clubs where table time is limited and suits players who find the standard game prone to very long deliberation.

Agon: frequently asked questions