1. Agon is played on a hexagonal board made of 91 hexagonal playing spaces. Each concentric ring of hexagons is a unique colour.

2. Each player selects 4 BEADs the colour of their choice, and 1 additional BEAD a colour to be their Queen BEAD.

3. Players place their Queen BEAD on opposite corners of the board on a two coloured hexagon.

4. Each player places a BEAD on a hexagon 4 hexagons away from their Queen on the outside ring in both directions.

5. The remaining 4 BEADs are placed on hexagons 2 hexagons from their opponents Queen and 6 hexagons from their opponents Queen on both sides on the outside ring.

6. Between the two sides of the board there will be 2 blue empty hexagons.

7. Players decide who begins the game by rolling a die.

1. In turns, each player moves 1 BEAD 1 hexagon, either to an adjacent space or towards the centre of the board. BEADs may never move back to an outer ring.

2. BEADs can only move to an empty space and BEADs may not jump over another BEAD.

3. BEADs cannot move into a space that places them between 2 of their opponent’s BEADs.

4. Only a Queen may move to the central space.

5. If a BEAD becomes “surrounded” between 2 of their opponent's BEADs, it is captured and BEAD owner must move the BEAD to any vacant space on the outer ring of the board on their next turn.

6. If a player’s Queen becomes surrounded between 2 of their opponent’s BEADs, it is captured and the BEAD owner must move the Queen to any vacant square on the board on their next turn.

7. Only one captured piece may be moved each turn.

1. To win the game, a player needs to place their Queen BEAD in the central space and their 6 other BEADs on the spaces adjacent to the Queen.

2. The game ends in a draw if a player's 6 BEADs are adjacent to the central space but their Queen is not the central space.

1. Agon is a kind of race game played with pure strategy. Sometimes reffered to as the Queen's Guard, the game features a queen and six guards for each of the two players.

2. The most noteworthy aspect of this game is that it is one of the earliest to be played on a hexagonal grid. The game of Agon is somewhat mysterious and very much ahead of its time. In appearance, it resembles one of the many abstract board games created in the late 20th century, not least because of its use of a hexagonal board with hexagonal playing spaces. However, it is very much older than this.

3. The game was first mentioned in 1872, and its first recorded appearance in England was in a book from 1890. It was published by Jaques of London some time during the Victorian Era. Earlier mentions of it come from France, but state that the game comes from outside France.