Vexel

Vexel is a clean, turn-based territory game where every move is about shape, space, and timing. You place polyomino pieces onto the board to claim territory and block opponents before they box you out.

The core rule set is intentionally strict. Your first piece must touch your corner. After that, your color can only connect at corners, never edge-to-edge. That single constraint creates most of the strategy.

Each color has the same piece bank, so advantage comes from placement order, rotations, and mirror choices. You can rotate and flip pieces every turn, undo when needed, and pass when no legal move remains.

You can play with 1 to 4 human colors and fill the rest with bots. The game ends when everyone passes in sequence, then scoring is based on covered tiles. It runs directly in the browser with no install.

Vexel is built as a self-contained web game and now lives directly on this site. Open the play page and start immediately.

My brother-in-law introduced me to this style of game while he was visiting, and we played it together with our kids.

What stuck with me was how well it worked across ages. The kids could jump in quickly, and the adults still had plenty to think about every turn.

After that visit, I wanted a version we could get to anytime without setup. No unpacking a box, no clearing a table, no extra friction.

That is why I built Vexel as a browser game. Open it, start a game, play a few turns, close it, come back later.

I also wanted it to work whether people are available or not, so you can play solo when schedules do not line up, or play together when they do.

This project came from a real family moment, and the goal has stayed simple: keep that experience accessible, repeatable, and easy to share.

The visual design of Vexel was heavily inspired by Dan Hollick's Making Software book and site. His work has been a huge creative influence on this project.

I deeply admire the way he combines clarity, personality, and craft: strong typography, intentional color choices, tactile interface surfaces, and visual systems that feel both playful and precise.

Several presentation choices on this page and in the game's UI were shaped by that influence, and this credit is given with genuine respect, gratitude, and love for his incredible design aesthetic and teaching.

Vexel is an independent browser game inspired by the polyomino territory-placement genre popularized by Blokus. Blokus is a trademark of its respective owner, and Vexel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by that owner.