Branchbound

Game premise and mechanics

Branchbound is a compact abstract strategy duel where two players aim to grow a shared tree. Each turn, you choose an open node to extend a branch in one of eight possible directions and set the new signal's color. The color you select cannot be the same as any neighbor's color. If you attempt a move that results in an echo, the branch breaks, requiring careful planning to keep the tree alive.

Core concepts

The game incorporates local graph coloring mechanics, requiring players to expand the tree while adhering to neighborhood color constraints. The design is inspired by finite-tree and graph-coloring problems, though it notably does not address complex computations like Busy Beaver or TREE(3).