Wall Race
Move your pawn and place walls to block your opponent!
How to Play
Goal
Be the first to reach your opponent's baseline. Player 1 starts at the top and aims for the bottom; Player 2 starts at the bottom and aims for the top.
Gameplay
Each turn you either move your pawn one square (up/down/left/right) or place a wall. Walls block two edges and cannot overlap. Each player has 10 walls.
Jumping
If your opponent is directly adjacent, you can jump over them. If the jump is blocked by a wall, you may move diagonally instead.
Important
A wall may only be placed if both players still have a path to their goal afterwards.
Strategy & tips
Walls are a finite resource, steps are not. Spend all your walls early and you have no tool left for the rest of the game. Place a wall only when it costs your opponent at least two steps — otherwise just run.
Build across your opponent's direction of travel, not directly in front of them. A wall immediately ahead of their pawn is simply walked around. Effective walls seal a whole corridor and force a long detour.
Count both path lengths before every move. At heart this is a race: if you lead on steps, run and ignore walls. If you trail, you must build — but only until you are ahead again.
Variants
Four players
Four pawns start on all four sides with fewer walls each. Paths cross constantly and the game gets far more chaotic.
Short walls
Walls block one cell instead of two. They are weaker individually, but you get more of them.
No jumping
Jumping over an opposing pawn is forbidden. Pawns block one another and encounters become riskier.
How it works
1. Create a game
Click "Create Game" and receive a 6-digit code.
2. Share the code
Share the code with your friends – via WhatsApp, Telegram, or just tell them.
3. Play instantly
Your friends enter the code and you start playing immediately. No login required!
Origin
The game was published in 1997 by Mirko Marchesi and derives from an earlier maze game by the same author. It belongs to the family of abstract connection games alongside Hex and Twixt.
Its central rule is also its most elegant: a wall may never block a player's last remaining path. The game therefore always stays solvable, and building becomes a question of detours rather than blockades.
Frequently asked questions
What is the goal?
Be first to reach the opposite baseline. Each turn you either move your pawn one square or place a wall.
Can I wall my opponent in completely?
No. After every wall, at least one path to the goal must remain for both players.
What happens when we meet face to face?
You may jump over the opposing pawn. If a wall sits behind it, you step diagonally instead.