In combinatorial game theory, a branch of mathematics, a hot game is one in which each player can improve their position by making the next move.
By contrast, a cold game is one where each player can only worsen their position by making the next move. The class of cold games are equivalent to the class of surreal numbers and so can be ordered by value, while hot games can have other values.
There are also tepid games, which are games with a temperature of exactly zero. Tepid games are formed by the class of strictly numerish games: that is, games that are equivalent to a number plus an infinitesimal.
Hackenbush can only represent tepid and cold games (by its decomposition into a purple mountain and a green jungle).