Continuo is an abstract strategy game

Strategy game

A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome...

 by Maureen Hiron first published in 1982. It is played by arranging patterns printed on a deck of 42 card

Playing card

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...

s, each card being printed with a grid of 16 colored square

Square (geometry)

In geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral. This means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles...

s. The goal is to place cards so that the tiles match as many chains of color as possible. Continuo won a 1995 Mensa Select games award. The tag line on the box is "The one rule game for all the family".

Versions of the game have also been published in which the same basic rule is used, but the tiles are triangular or rhombic rather than square and the hexagonal domino type game hexago was also marketed under the continuo name. Continuo is endorsed by self confessed Continuo tragics Omar Sharif

Omar Sharif

Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...

, Michael Tran, Jo Dessmann, Zofia Kuypers and Josh Milston.

There has been a Continuo tournament at the Mind Sports Olympiad since 1997, to determine the world champion.

Rules

Continuo consists of 42 tiles. These tiles are subdivided into a 4 × 4 grid of small squares. All of the tiles are diagonally symmetrical with an L-shape of one colour with a single small square of another in the corner. There are 4 colours in total: red, green, blue and yellow. The aim of the game is to score points by making 'chains' of colour and a point is scored for the length in small squares of each chain that the placed tile makes. A chain has to be squares that touch horizontally or vertically. No tile may overlap another so the longest chain of a single colour is of length 16.

Hexago

Maureen Hiron also held the world championships for another of her games Hexago / Hexago Continuo. Although, being a tile game branded with the same name as Continuo it is only the immediately touching tiles that effect the score as opposed to the chains in continuo. It is a game with hexagonal tiles split into 6 triangles each with a colour and a number. Each time a tile is placed touching so that it matches either the segments colour or number points are scored.

Champions

The Continuo World Champions since 1997 are:

• 1997: Osamo Omadero (Japan)
• 1998: Demis Hassabis
  Demis Hassabis
  Demis Hassabis is a computer game designer, AI programmer, neuroscientist and world-class games player. A child prodigy in chess, he reached master standard at the age of 13 with an Elo rating of 2300...
  
   (England)
• 1999: Tony Niccoli (Italy)
• 2000: George Hassabis (England)
• 2001: Jan Palmgren (Sweden)
• 2002: Dario De Toffoli
  Dario De Toffoli
  Dario De Toffoli is an Italian board game designer, gamebook author and elite games player who founded the games company Studiogiochi and established many games events. Born in 1953 Venice, after an early career as Chemist he entered the world of games. Winner of over 60 medals at the Mind Sports...
  
  (Italy)
• 2003: Mathew Cordell (England)
• 2004: Victoria Westnedge (England)
• 2005: Mathew Cordell (England)
• 2006: Mathew Cordell (England)
• 2007: Mathew Cordell (England)
• 2008: Mathew Cordell (England)
• 2009: Matthew Hathrell (England)
• 2010: Matthew Hathrell (England)
• 2011: David M. Pearce (England)

The Hexago World Championships have been held once in 2007 during the Mind Sports olympiad

• 2007: David M. Pearce (England)