If you’ve played our new game, Hex Dominion, you immediately noticed something different about the board: it’s made of hexagons, not squares.
From tabletop classics like Settlers of Catan to iconic digital strategy games like Civilization V, the hex grid is a beloved staple of game design. But why? What makes a six-sided shape so vastly superior for strategy and movement compared to the familiar checkerboard square?
The "Diagonal Problem" of Squares
Imagine you are standing on a square grid. You can move up, down, left, or right. The distance to any of those adjacent squares is precisely 1 unit.
Now, try moving diagonally. On a square grid, a diagonal move is mathematically longer than a straight move—specifically, it's the square root of 2, or roughly 1.41 units long.
Game designers have historically struggled with this. If diagonal movement costs the same as cardinal movement, it creates weird shortcuts where zigzagging is faster than walking straight. If diagonal movement is outlawed entirely, movement feels blocky and unnatural.
The Hexagonal Solution
Enter the hexagon.
On a hex grid, every single adjacent tile shares a flat edge, and the center-to-center distance to every single neighbor is exactly identical. There are no diagonal workarounds, no Pythagorean theorem headaches for the developers, and no unnatural pathing for the player.
Movement on a hex grid simply makes sense. It naturally approximates curved, organic paths much better than a square grid ever could, making it ideal for simulating geography, tactical fronts, and area-of-effect abilities.
More Neighbors, More Options
A square has 4 adjacent neighbors (or 8 if you count diagonals). A hexagon has 6 perfectly equidistant neighbors.
In a territory control game like Hex Dominion, this means a single tile can be attacked from six different angles, and can support six different allies. A frontline on a hex grid is porous and dynamic, allowing for complex flanking maneuvers and solid defensive rings that simply aren't possible on a four-way grid.
Next time you boot up Hex Dominion, take a moment to appreciate the elegant geometry of the board. The shape of the battlefield changes everything!