Distrix

From BoardGameGeek:

Distrix is an award-winning game of skill in which two players, Red and Blue, battle to control a 6x6 region called The Matrix. The number in each square of the matrix equals power, and Red and Blue are equally powerful. During the game, players use colored tokens to group the squares into 9 districts, one square at a time. As districts are formed, power becomes unevenly allocated. Red controls some districts, Blue controls others. The game ends when one token occupies each square and there are no legal moves remaining. Whoever controls more districts is the winner. The idea is simple, but play is incredibly challenging. To win, you must cleverly spread your power across many districts while concentrating your opponent's power into few districts. This is how election districts are rigged, or gerrymandered, in the real world. But, in Distrix, an opponent responds to your every move. Each district is a tug-of-war that you want to win narrowly or lose by a lot. But be careful...you may accidentally win it by too much or barely lose it! Nine districts are in play, so there's a lot to keep your eye on. Spatial awareness is critical because the shape of one district affects another. And there's a special rule in the endgame--that allows squares to be reassigned from large districts to adjacent smaller ones--that can thwart even the best game plan, turning an expected victory into a stunning defeat. Overall, it's a pure battle for power where basic arithmetic, spatial awareness, move timing, and move counting make all the difference. A devilishly challenging affair, Distrix has the conceptual simplicity, aesthetic elegance, and strategic sophistication typical of classic games like chess and go. But with real-world relevance, endgame surprises, razor-thin victory margins, and a different matrix every time, Distrix is a game of skill like no other. Are you ready for the challenge? Distrix won the Best New Abstract Game Judges Award at the 2021 UK Games Expo and a silver medal in the 2020 Serious Play Tabletop Game Competition. It is for 2 players ages 14 and up and takes 30-60 minutes to play. Each game set includes 36 tiles, 9 home base tokens, 99 expansion tokens, 9 scoring tokens, a scoreboard, rulebook, and rule summary sheet. Distrix Edition 3.0 was released in October 2024 and is now available at DistrixGames.com. -description from the publisher