4th Corner
4th Corner Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Equipment
80 tiles, 8 pawns, rules.
Object
Every turn, place a tile and move your pawn (if you can and want to) so that you get to the exit tile first after it is played.
Setup
Take out the exit tile and one cross tile for 2-4 players, the exit tile and two cross tiles for 5-8 players. Place the rest of the tiles face down in a pile or one or more stacks. (Alternatively, place the rest of the tiles in an opaque bag.)
Choose a pawn and an order in which players will take their turns. (With 2 players, try 2 pawns per player.) Place the cross tile (or cross tiles side by side) in the center of the play area. Starting with the first player, place your pawn on one of the white spaces on the starting tile(s) until all players have placed their pawns.
Types of Tiles
- Cross (12)
- Parallel (10)
- Diagonal (10)
- Elbow (8)
- Exterior Corner (16)
- Unobstructed Exterior (9)
- Obstructed Exterior (14)
- Exit (1)
Your Turn
On your turn, you must draw a face-down tile and attach it on a side (not a corner) to the tiles already face up.
There are only two exceptions:
- You must discard exterior corner cards if the exterior wall hasn't started yet.
- After the fourth exterior corner has been played, you may draw a tile and replace an unoccupied tile already played if both tiles have only interior walls on them. The replaced tile goes in a face-up discard stack.
Once you have placed your tile, you may move your pawn one tile, if it is possible. You do not have to move on your turn. When you move, you may only move from one tile to another tile that is touching on a side if you can do it without crossing the black interior walls or the red brick exterior walls. You may occupy the same space as another pawn.
First Exterior Wall Tile
In the example above, there are six possible placements for the newly drawn obstructed exterior tile and one incorrect placement. You must always place exterior wall tiles so that the brick wall is one single segment growing in both directions either (1) toward the two ends meeting or (2) away from immediate and eventual dead ends.
You must also be sure to keep all the interior walls on only one side of the brick exterior wall.
Joining the Brick Wall Ends
If the two ends of the red brick exterior wall meet, you must replace unoccupied unobstructed and obstructed exterior tiles and the exit tile every time you draw other unobstructed or obstructed exterior tiles or the exit tile. From that point on, all exterior corner tiles drawn are discarded. You can use this strategy to discard the exit tile, if it looks like one of your opponents will get to it before you do.
After the Fourth Exterior Corner Is Played
- Shuffle the exit tile randomly face down into the draw pile or draw stack(s).
- When you draw the cross, parallel, diagonal, and elbow tiles, you may either play them in new locations, OR you may replace already-played interior wall tiles. For example, you can use this to escape when trapped.
Scoring Penalty Points
To score penalty points, start with the next player's turn, then every other player in turn order. This may mean that someone may clear your path for you before you tally your score.
- Each move it takes to get to the exit tile = 1 point
- Each tile drawn trying to replace obstacles = 1 point
- Each wall your pawn climbs over = 4 points
For example, in the game shown below, red wins and takes zero penalty points, green is two tiles away and takes 2 penalty points, and yellow takes 1 turn to move off the elbow, draws a cross tile then a parallel tile to replace the elbow, and then takes 5 turns to get to the exit tile for a total of 8 penalty points.
The Discard Stack
Any exterior corner tiles drawn before other exterior wall tiles have been played, any tiles replaced by other tiles after the fourth exterior corner has been played, the exit (if discarded), and any other tiles that could not be played go into a discard stack. When the last tile is drawn from the draw pile or stack(s), the discard stack is shuffled and becomes a new draw pile. If all the tiles have been played and none can be drawn, players take turns moving one tile at a time until some player reaches the exit. If no one can reach the exit, the round is a stalemate, and everyone gets penalty points based on their position when no pawn can get any closer to the exit.
Winning the Round
When any player lands on the exit tile, the round is over. You can declare that player the winner or score the round and play more rounds (to one hour, 25 penalty points, or whatever endpoint you want).