1 · The Board

An island of 19 hexes surrounded by sea. Each land hex shows one of five resources and a number from 2–12 (except the desert, which produces nothing and hosts the robber).

Around the perimeter sit nine ports. Five give a 2:1 rate on one specific resource; four are generic 3:1 ports usable for any resource.

2 · Setup

Turn order is randomized. Then everyone places, in snake order (1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1):

• A settlement on any vertex (corner) of the board
• A road on one of the three edges touching that settlement

Bonus: your second settlement immediately yields one card of each adjacent resource — a key reason to pick a spot with a good resource mix.

Two rules constrain every settlement placement, now and later:

• Distance rule: no settlement may touch a vertex adjacent to another settlement or city (yours or anyone's).
• Settlements built after setup must also connect to one of your own roads.

3 · A Turn

1. Roll two dice.
2. Production: every land hex whose number matches the roll yields resources to anyone with a piece on its corners. A settlement gets 1 card; a city gets 2.
3. Main phase: build, trade, or play a development card — in any order, as many times as you can afford.
4. End turn.

4 · Building

Pay the cost from your hand. You're capped at 15 roads, 5 settlements, and 4 cities total.

Roads must extend an unbroken chain from one of your settlements/cities. A chain is broken at any vertex where an opposing piece sits — you can't build past a rival's settlement.

5 · The Robber & the 7

When a 7 is rolled, no hex produces. Instead:

1. Discard: every player holding more than 7 cards must discard half (rounded down) of their hand.
2. Move: the roller picks a new hex for the robber. A hex with the robber on it produces nothing until the robber leaves.
3. Steal: the roller takes one random card from any player who has a settlement or city touching the robber's new hex.

The robber also moves whenever someone plays a Knight (see below).

6 · Development Cards

The deck is shuffled at game start. There are 25 cards total. You may play one dev card per turn (apart from Victory Points), and never the same turn you bought it.

• Knight ×14 — move the robber and steal as if you'd rolled a 7 (but skip the discard step). Your played knights accumulate toward Largest Army.
• Road Building ×2 — place 2 free roads immediately.
• Year of Plenty ×2 — take any 2 resources from the bank.
• Monopoly ×2 — name a resource. Every opponent gives you all of theirs.
• Victory Point ×5 — +1 VP, held secretly until you win.

7 · Trading

Three ways to swap resources:

• Bank, 4:1 — trade four of one resource for any one.
• Port, 3:1 or 2:1 — if you have a settlement/city on a generic port vertex, you trade 3:1 in any resource. A 2:1 port gives you that specific resource at the better rate. Hexland auto-detects your best rate per resource.
• Player trade — propose a deal of any cards you give and any cards you want. AI opponents accept based on their own needs and your VP — the closer you are to winning, the less generous they get.

8 · Earning Victory Points

• Each settlement = 1 VP
• Each city = 2 VP
• Longest Road — first player to build an unbroken chain of 5+ roads earns 2 VP. If someone else later builds a longer one, the title passes. A road broken by an enemy settlement no longer counts as one chain.
• Largest Army — first player to play 3+ knights earns 2 VP. Title passes to anyone who plays more.
• Each Victory Point card = 1 VP (hidden until you win)

9 · Reading the Board

• Number probability: 6 and 8 are red because they're the most common rolls (5 of 36 chances each). 2 and 12 are rarest. Pips below the number give a quick visual cue — more pips means more frequent.
• The bank can run dry. If multiple players are owed a resource the bank can't cover, no one gets any. A solo claimant takes whatever remains.
• Cities double your production from the same hex, so upgrading a settlement next to a 6 or 8 is usually a strong move.

10 · Strategy

Opening (setup). The two settlements you place define your whole game.

• Count pips. Each hex's pip total is its expected production. A spot touching 8+10+5 (5+3+4 = 12 pips) produces far more than 9+11+4 (4+2+3 = 9). Always pick the higher pip total over a "pretty" spot.
• Resource diversity beats raw pips. A spot touching three different resources lets you build everything; a triple-wood spot starves on every other roll.
• Pick a strategy with your second settlement. Either a port (commit to that resource as your trade engine), a complementary resource set (covers what your first spot misses), or a high-pip city target (gold for upgrades later). All three are valid — pick one.
• Two viable archetypes: wood+brick for fast roads/settlements (think Longest Road), or wheat+ore for cities + dev cards (think Largest Army). The board often favors one over the other — read it before you place.
• Your first road points toward your next settlement. Don't pick a "safe" road direction — pick the one that opens a high-value future spot before someone else takes it.

Resource economics.

• Wheat is king. It's in every building cost except road, and city upgrades need two. Never let your wheat production drop to zero.
• Ore is hoarded — it builds cities (3) and dev cards (1). Without ore you can't reach 10 VP through cities; you'll have to chase Longest Road or VP cards.
• Sheep looks weak but it's in settlements + dev cards + 2:1 ports. A sheep port is one of the best in the game.
• Wood + brick are paired on road and settlement costs. If you have one without the other, you have nothing.

Building priorities.

• Upgrade settlements to cities as soon as you can afford it — you double production at that spot and gain a VP. Always your top priority on a good hex.
• Second settlement on a port if the resource matches your strongest production. A 2:1 sheep port + steady sheep makes you self-sufficient on trades.
• Don't build a road just because you can. Roads cost wood+brick and only score the +2 VP for Longest Road. Every other build is more direct VP.
• Buy dev cards when you have nothing better. They're 1-VP-equivalent on average (mostly knights + 20% VP cards) and the surprise plays win games.

Dev card timing.

• Knight is both attack and defense. Play one early to grab Largest Army (3 knights = +2 VP) before others stack up.
• Knight before rolling moves the robber off you on the same turn the dice could hurt you. Always look at your blocked tile before each roll.
• Road Building is a Longest Road ambush: don't reveal your road plans, then drop two roads in one turn for the +2 VP swing.
• Monopoly is best after a high-roll turn where opponents stockpiled. Aim at the resource the leader is sitting on.
• Year of Plenty closes deals: take the exact 2 resources to complete a city or settlement that turn.

The robber.

• Block the leader's best hex — usually a 6 or 8 next to their city. Don't waste a robber on a 2 or 12.
• Steal from whoever has the resource you need most. A wheat-rich opponent is the highest-value target if you're stuck on a city.
• If everyone has 0 or 1 cards, moving the robber is still worth it to cut production. Stealing nothing is fine if you also blocked a 5-pip hex.
• Don't rob a player who can't win soon. Help yourself first; antagonize the leader, not the player at 3 VP.

Trading.

• Don't trade with the leader. If someone is at 7+ visible VP, propose to anyone else first. The AI in Hexland already refuses trades that boost the close-to-winning proposer.
• Trade 2-for-1 with a port before going 4-for-1 with the bank. If you have a sheep port and 4 sheep, take 2 wheat — that's a city closer.
• Hold back one resource the leader needs. If they're one wheat away from a city, refuse all wheat trades with them this turn.

Longest Road & Largest Army.

• Each is +2 VP — that's 20% of the game. Always know who currently holds each, and who's one card away from taking it.
• Longest Road is a trap if you don't have wood+brick. A 5-road chain costs 10 cards; if you don't have steady wood+brick production, you'll never extend it past someone else's 6.
• An enemy settlement breaks your chain at that vertex. If a rival is about to overtake your LR, build a settlement that interrupts their chain.

Endgame & reading opponents.

• Track visible VP + dev card count for every opponent. If someone has 8 visible VP and 3 dev cards, assume two of them are VP cards — they can win on their next turn.
• Hide your VP cards until the winning turn. Don't telegraph that you're at 9.
• From 8 VP onward, opponents will trade-block, robber-block, and refuse you everything. Surprise wins matter — save a Road Building or VP card reveal for the kill turn.
• The fastest closing play: have all 4 resources for a settlement + 2 wheat + 3 ore (settle + immediately upgrade to city = +3 VP in one turn).

11 · Controls

Hexland plays on glasses (D-pad), phone (touch), and desktop (mouse + keyboard).

• Tap / click — activate a button, or pick a spot directly on the board during placement
• ↑ ↓ ← → — move focus through buttons or move the highlight cursor on the board
• Enter — confirm the focused button or the highlighted board spot
• Esc / Back — close a menu or popover; mandatory actions (robber move, free road, setup placement) can't be canceled

Your hand, dice, and turn indicator sit in the bars above and below the board. The ☰ button opens your action menu mid-turn; ●●● shows all players' VP, hand size, and titles.