Edgecut in alpha
Posted: 31 July 2026, 14:59
Edgecut is an orthogonal connection game (OCG).
I'll give a brief overview, but you really have to study the rule sheet, text and diagrams, to understand it.
Crosscut: 2x2 area with two diagonally adjacent black stones and two diagonally adjacent white stones.
The board starts out filled with a checkerboard pattern of stones. Or in other words, filled with crosscuts.
On your turn, kill a crosscut by swapping two orthogonally adjacent stones within it - in such a way that the crosscut propagates outward, away from the center - one swap per turn. Crosscuts disintegrate at board edges. Once enough crosscuts have been eliminated, a winning path will form.
Who would even think of something like this ?? Only me
It's actually not as difficult as it sounds. The vast majority of moves are legal, and stones that can be moved are highlighted.
For robustness reasons, the grids have to be quite large, resulting in a lot of little stones, which can be visually challenging.
Edgecut is a very exotic game. The mechanism solves the longstanding problem of a single adjacent swap per turn. The patterns that form during play are unusual. It looks like a game of the ancient Aztecs.
One comment that I hear sometimes about my other OCGs, Minefield and Necklace, is that the most likely outcome should be a draw - a deadlock, where neither player can win.
No. The whole point of these mechanisms is to prevent deadlocks and make the games decisive. This is the science of OCGs.
Game page:
https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=edgecut
Rule sheet:
https://www.marksteeregames.com/Edgecut_rules.pdf
REVIEWERS
Please try Edgecut. It needs your approvals to advance to beta.
I'll give a brief overview, but you really have to study the rule sheet, text and diagrams, to understand it.
Crosscut: 2x2 area with two diagonally adjacent black stones and two diagonally adjacent white stones.
The board starts out filled with a checkerboard pattern of stones. Or in other words, filled with crosscuts.
On your turn, kill a crosscut by swapping two orthogonally adjacent stones within it - in such a way that the crosscut propagates outward, away from the center - one swap per turn. Crosscuts disintegrate at board edges. Once enough crosscuts have been eliminated, a winning path will form.
Who would even think of something like this ?? Only me
It's actually not as difficult as it sounds. The vast majority of moves are legal, and stones that can be moved are highlighted.
For robustness reasons, the grids have to be quite large, resulting in a lot of little stones, which can be visually challenging.
Edgecut is a very exotic game. The mechanism solves the longstanding problem of a single adjacent swap per turn. The patterns that form during play are unusual. It looks like a game of the ancient Aztecs.
One comment that I hear sometimes about my other OCGs, Minefield and Necklace, is that the most likely outcome should be a draw - a deadlock, where neither player can win.
No. The whole point of these mechanisms is to prevent deadlocks and make the games decisive. This is the science of OCGs.
Game page:
https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=edgecut
Rule sheet:
https://www.marksteeregames.com/Edgecut_rules.pdf
REVIEWERS
Please try Edgecut. It needs your approvals to advance to beta.