Trax (board game)

Lore & Background

Trax was invented in 1981 by David Smith, a chartered accountant in Christchurch, New Zealand. Smith had previously published five games between 1970 and 1980, including Chess Cards, a variant of chess featuring boardless play. In 1981, Smith began developing the boardless aspect of Chess Cards into a more original abstract game, which led to Trax. He quickly developed the idea of two colored paths, but discovered that play could stop if three edges had the same colors, leading to his breakthrough invention of the forced-play rule later that year.

The game was first published in New Zealand and the United States in 1982. Originally, the tiles were made of cardboard and were red with black and white lines. As the game became more popular, the tiles were changed to high-density plastic using the same colors. The change to black tiles with red and white lines took place in 2005. In 1999, Trax was added to the Microsoft Internet Gaming Zone, which had launched in 1996 with other games. For the 2015 International Conference on Field-Programmable Technology in Queenstown, New Zealand, Trax was selected for the design competition for implementation using a field programmable gate array processor.

Notable player Donald Bailey, an engineering professor at Massey University in New Zealand, has won multiple Trax world championships, though the championship has been held irregularly and other players have also claimed titles.

Reader's Guide

Trax is significant as an abstract strategy game that introduced a forced-play rule, which adds a layer of tactical complexity by requiring players to continue placing tiles when certain patterns form. The game's boardless nature, derived from Smith's earlier Chess Cards, allows play on any flat surface. Its notation system, using three-character codes for recording moves, is designed to handle the game's expanding grid. The game has seen competitive play, with Donald Bailey dominating world championships since 1990. Trax was also one of the first proprietary games on Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone in 1999, and was used in a design competition at the 2015 International Conference on Field-Programmable Technology. The game's legacy includes variations such as Loop Trax, Limited Tiles, Mini Trax, and SuperTrax, the latter becoming dominant with virtual play. Trax is often compared to Tantrix, a connection game with similar tiles but different gameplay.

Did You Know?

• The forced-play rule was invented by David Smith in 1981, shortly after he began developing Trax.
• The first tiles were made of cardboard and were red with black and white lines; they changed to black tiles with red and white lines in 2005.
• Trax was added to the Microsoft Internet Gaming Zone in 1999, though the Zone had launched in 1996 with other games.
• Donald Bailey is a notable multiple-time Trax world champion, but the championship has been held irregularly and other players have also won titles.