Quarto (board game)


Quarto is a board game for two players invented by Swiss mathematician Blaise Muller. It is published and copyrighted by Gigamic.
The game is played on a 4×4 board. There are 16 unique pieces to play with, each of which is either:
  • tall or short;
  • red or blue ;
  • square or circular; and
  • hollow-top or solid-top.
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. A variant rule included in many editions gives a second way to win by placing four matching pieces in a 2×2 square.
Quarto is distinctive in that there is only one set of common pieces, rather than a set for one player and a different set for the other. It is therefore an impartial game.

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