''Entropy'' is an

abstract strategy Abstract may refer to: *"Abstract", a 2017 episode of the animated television series ''Adventure Time'' * ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott * Abstract algebra, sets with specific operations acting on their elements * Abstract of ti ...

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

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
/ref> 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,

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, 11 August 1997, online version available from studiogiochi MSO archive

David Pritchard (chess player), 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 A palindrome ( /ˈpæl.ɪn.droʊm/) is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as ''madam'' or '' racecar'', the date " 02/02/2020" and the sentence: "A man, a plan, a canal – Pana ...

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 The Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) is an annual international multi-sport event, multi-disciplined competition and festival for game of skill, games of mental skill and mind sports by Mind Sports Organisation. The inaugural event was held in 1997 i ...

since its inception.

Demis Hassabis Sir Demis Hassabis (born 27 July 1976) is a British artificial intelligence (AI) researcher, and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Google DeepMind, and Isomorphic Labs, and a UK Government AI Adviser. In 2024, Ha ...

had won this event a record five times until losing in 2007.Stephen Moss
''This time it's personal''
''

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'', 27 August 2007, Retrieved on 13 June 2010. 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:

* 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

References

Bibliography * *

External links

*{{bgg, 1329, ''Hyle'' *Online play (turned-based) a
Abstract Play
*Online play (real time) at
Vint.ee
Board games introduced in 1977 Abstract strategy games

Rules

Championships

References

Further reading

External links