Hexic

The objective of Hexic is to rotate hexagonal pieces of various colours and clear them from the playfield by forming clusters or flowers. Clusters are formed when three pieces of the same colour touch each other. Pieces above the cleared pieces fall, potentially forming more clusters and causing chain reactions, and new pieces appear at the top of the playfield. Bonuses are awarded for clearing more than three pieces at a time, and some pieces contain bonus stars, which yield extra points and can clear larger groups of pieces depending on how they are cleared.

The player can create a "gold-star" by arranging six like-coloured pieces into a hexagon or "flower", surrounding a piece of a different colour or type. The surrounding pieces are cleared, and the center piece is replaced by a silver-star (unless the center piece was already a silver-star, in which case a new silver-star drops from the top). A gold-star allows the player to rotate all surrounding pieces clockwise or counterclockwise. Forming a flower of silver-stars changes the center piece into a black pearl, which allows the player to move three surrounding pieces in a Y or inverted Y pattern. The ultimate goal of the game is to form a cluster or flower of black pearls, after which the game will end.

Hexic was originally developed by Carbonated Games and was released on the MSN Games online service in July 2003. A downloadable deluxe edition was also made available soon after. A variation of the game called Hexic HD was later developed by Microsoft Game Studios (since renamed Xbox Game Studios) and Carbonated Games for the Xbox 360, and comes preinstalled on all Xbox 360 hard drives as part of the Xbox Live Arcade service; it was previously only available by calling Microsoft's Service Center but later became available on the Xbox Marketplace as a free download. This version features online leaderboards and support for high-definition.

In August 2007, Microsoft released Hexic 2 on Xbox Live Arcade, providing new gameplay features and a competitive two-player mode. Additionally, Hexic Deluxe for Tablet PC was released for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition as part of the Education Pack for Tablet PC, allowing players to rotate pieces using a stylus.