Apologies if this question has an obvious answer! My research is in pure math, but I've started to think about some applied problems that are similar to this game. The player arranges numbers 1-19 in a hexagon so that the numbers in each row add up to 38. The game has been written about here and here. Here is the Wikipedia page for magic hexagons, and here is the Wikipedia page for magic squares.
Just like filling in a magic square, filling in a magic hexagon could be viewed as a "dead-end game:" By the time the player puts down, say, 5 pieces, they could have already lost the game --- but not realizing this, the player might continue to place more pieces on the board without seeing the futility of doing so, until they are stuck with the final pieces that they cannot place. The player could waste a lot of time pursuing a solution after the placed pieces have rendered a solution impossible. There must be an official name for this type of game, rather than "dead-end game." Could anyone tell me the correct terminology?
Another "dead-end game:" Biking around your neighborhood, trying not to wind up in a cul-de-sac (a literal dead-end), but not realizing that you've turned into a cul-de-sac until you reach the final houses on that street.
I've seen questions and answers on this site about algorithms for filling in magic squares. My question is not about solution methods, just about the terminology for games in which a player could waste time pursuing what is already a dead-end path. I'm sure this is a very common and well-studied type of game --- just need the terminology so I can learn more about it! (Feel free to add or remove tags as appropriate.)