Gigamic Quarto Classic Game

Product Information

Players take turns choosing a piece which the other player must then place on the board. A player wins by placing a piece on the board which forms a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row of four pieces, all of which have a common attribute (all short, all circular, etc.). A variant rule included in many editions gives a second way to win by placing four matching pieces in a 2×2 square. The suggested age range is 8 and up, and I think that’s about right; players need to be able to look for several potential patterns and adjust to new pieces as they are placed on the board. With a 5/8" bit, drill each of these points. It only has to be deep enough to underline the places where the game pieces go : it is not even necessary to drill (you could just draw or paint small circles), but I find it gives a nice optical effect, especially if you let the bit slightly burn the wood, for more contrast. Er, a note first -- some of this advice may not transfer over to the advanced version (2x2 square sharing the same property being a winning move in addition to a line of 4). I haven't won consistently at that level.

So far we have changed the size of the board, but there is more we can generalise if we wish. Can you imagine three different heights? Three different colours? A ternary number taking values 0, 1 or 2? Then we can design games where attributes take three values. If this player has not noticed the alignment and passes a piece to the opponent: The latter may "at that moment" call "QUARTO !" and indicate the alignment: He wins the game. You can get Quarto in either the regular size or Quarto Mini if you’d like more of a travel version. I actually think I prefer the mini size as the smaller components work fine and I like the portability it offers. If you are looking for a game that you can play with just about anyone, then give Quarto a look. Here’s the first twist: all the pieces are shared between you and your opponent. You can use any pieces already on the board to make a line.

Game Play

The game also has an advanced variant that allows for a player to also win by placing matching pieces in a 2×2 square. The object is to get four pieces in a row that each share one of the game’s characteristics. Game Experience: He creates a line of 4 light pieces or 4 dark pieces or 4 round pieces or 4 square pieces or 4 tall pieces or 4 short pieces or 4 solid pieces or 4 hollow pieces. This is a boardgame that I did not invent : it was created by a mathematician called Blaise Müller and is now commercialised under the name "Quarto". I decided it would be fun to make one myself... And I will show you how I did it. It’s certainly possible to imagine playing on a three-dimensional board. You might have seen a 3D noughts and crosses puzzle, or be imagining Star Trek’s 3D chess. My only complaint is that it can be hard to tell which way is “up” on the pieces – which is important to tell the difference between the pieces that are solid from the ones that have a hole cut out from the top. Mechanics

The abstract series from Gigamic never disappoints. The pieces are high quality, the presentation is smooth, and they’re always games I feel like I could find on the coffee table at a stylish hotel or something like that, Surprises Andrew] So, in this example, I’m placing a piece, and then I choose a piece for Anitra and hand it to her. Rather than think about the number of pieces directly, it’s helpful to think about the number of different attributes.

Object of the Game

Rule 1. Realize that every piece is (potentially) a winning piece. Don't focus on such things as "this piece is tall," because one tends to forget that that same piece is also light, square, and solid. But there’s a twist! Players don’t choose which piece to play. Instead, they are handed a piece by their opponent. So in fact the aim is to get your opponent to hand you a piece you can use to win. Actually, this seems to stem from instruction 2, which indicates that one can choose an attribute to win with. That seems to make one focus on one attribute, which I've found to be a way to almost guarantee losing.] The components in Quarto are minimal, but still expertly crafted. The game board is made out of wood and contains 16 circles to place the pieces in. The only other components are the 16 wooden game pieces, in two different stain colors. In addition to their stain color, each piece will contain some of the following aspects: tall or short, square or circular, hollow-top or solid-top.