Everything You Need to Know About Four Corners™!
Four Corners™ is finally here, and we are just so excited to show you everything you need to know about our new living puzzle game! With two gorgeous versions for your enjoyment, we’re sure everyone will find their match.
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How To Play
View the rulebooks for Galaxy and Kaleidoscope!
Quick Start Guide
Overview
Four Corners™ is a challenging, delightful puzzle game, with unique goals for each player. With quick and simple gameplay, players will score goals by placing tiles to either complete an image across four tile corners, or create a sequence of four identical center images in a row.
Objective: Be the first player to score your three secret goals!
Setup
To start, assemble our signature Tip-Pivot game board by inserting the tab into the slot located on adjoining sides of each board quadrant. Then, place the assembled game board in the center of the table.
Goal Cards
Shuffle the goal cards and deal three to each player facedown. Players should look at their goal cards but keep their goals secret from the other players.
Puzzle Tiles
Place the puzzle tiles facedown into a draw pile to allow for random distribution among players. If your table space is limited, we suggest putting the tiles into the box lid for easy access. Each tile has a full center image in the middle, and four partial corner images. Draw and place the top puzzle tile on one of the four squares located in the center of the game board, in whatever orientation you would like.
If the top puzzle tile has a special action on it, redraw until you can place a tile that is not a special action, then shuffle and return the special action tiles to the draw pile.
Each player will draw three puzzle tiles to form their hands, which are kept secret until played. If you draw more than one special tile, keep one and draw replacements for any others, then shuffle and return the others into the draw pile. Players are limited to one special action tile in their hand at a time.
If a player draws a second special action tile, they should first draw an additional tile and then choose and shuffle one special action tile back into the draw pile.
Gameplay
In Four Corners™, the last person to have looked through a telescope (Galaxy) or a kaleidoscope (Kaleidoscope) goes first.
On your turn, you must perform one of four possible actions:
1. Play a puzzle tile from your hand.
You may place a puzzle tile face up next to a neighboring tile already in play, meaning one that is immediately above, below, left, right or diagonal to the tile. Alternatively, you may replace any puzzle tile already on the board, and remove the replaced tile from the game. A puzzle tile may be placed or replaced in any orientation, but either its Center or one of its Corner Images must match that of a neighboring tile.
2.) Rotate exactly two puzzle tiles on the board by 90 degrees in either direction.
If you have a rotate 180° Special Action in your hand, you may discard it to rotate one of the two puzzle tiles 180° instead.
3.) Exchange the positions of the two Puzzle tiles on the board, maintaining their original orientation.
Both exchanged tiles must match the Center Image or Corner Image of a neighboring tile in their new positions. If you have a Double Swap Special Action tile in your hand, you may discard it to perform a second swap using the same or a different puzzle tile.
4.) Draw a new Goal card and then return one from your hand to the bottom of the Goal card deck.
You may never end a turn with more Goal cards than you had at the start of the turn.
Ending Your Turn:
In most cases, your turn ends after completing an action. However, scoring a Goal card may extend your turn as described below in Completing Goals and Scoring. If you finish your turn with fewer than three puzzle tiles in hand, draw puzzle tiles until you have three in your hand. If you draw a second Special Action tile, draw an additional tile, then choose and shuffle one special action tile back into the draw pile.
Play then passes to the player on your left.
Completing Goals and Scoring
During your turn, you can score Goal cards by creating a Matching Four Corners Image, or building an Iconic Sequence. However, you cannot take an action that creates a Matching Four Corners Image or Iconic Sequence for which you do not have a Goal Card.
A Matching Four Corners Image
When you create an intersection of four matching image corner types, you’ve completed a Matching Four Corners Image! Reveal your goal card matching the Image to score it. Other players cannot score goal cards during your turn. After scoring a Four Corners Image, you must break apart the image by rotating each of that Image’s four puzzle tiles once in either direction by 90° before your turn ends.
Once you have finished breaking up the Image, if the newly rotated tiles have completed another Four Corners Image, then you may reveal and score the matching goal card.
Afterward, you must break apart the new image as described above, but you cannot rotate them to a position they previously held during your turn.
An Iconic Sequence
A four-in-a-row series of Puzzle Tiles with identical center images neighboring one another in any direction (Horizontally, Vertically, or Diagonally) is an Iconic Sequence. When you create this Iconic Sequence, reveal the corresponding Goal card to score it. After scoring an Iconic Sequence, you must break it apart by changing two of the Center Images within the sequence. One at a time, draw two new puzzle pieces and – without changing their orientation – replace two puzzle tiles within the sequence, maintaining the placement rules.
If the newly drawn puzzle tile shows a center image matching that of the Iconic sequence, or if it is a special action, shuffle it back into the draw pile and redraw; this action must break up the Iconic Sequence.
In replacing puzzle tiles in an Iconic Sequence, you may create and score a new complete Four Corners Image or Iconic Sequence if you have a matching Goal card. If you create a new Four Corners Image , you must rotate the four puzzle tiles as usual. If you create a new Iconic Sequence before the second puzzle tile is replaced in the original sequence, play the second tile into the original sequence before scoring the new sequence.
Once scored, move onto replacing two puzzle tiles in the new sequence. After scoring, you must fully complete the process of breaking apart the Four Corners Image or Iconic sequence before you may check to see if another scoring pattern can be scored.
Important: You are not allowed to complete a Four Corners Image or Iconic Sequence on the board if you do not have the corresponding Goal card. If you do not have the corresponding goal card for the created pattern, you may not take the desired action and will need to rotate the tile in the opposite direction or play the tile in a different location within the sequence.
Scoring Duplicate Goal Cards
Each Four Corners Image or Iconic Sequence may be scored only once, even if a player has more than one goal card matching it. A player with Duplicate Goal cards must fulfill each goal separately. It is possible to score multiple goals in a single turn.
Winning
The first player to score three goals wins!
Handling Extraordinary Situations
Your games of Four Corners may create rare remarkable circumstances! When these situations occur, the following rule applies:
Simultaneous Goal Events: You may always take an action that allows you to score a goal.
Curious about team rules for higher player counts? Head on over to the full rulebook! You can also try the solo game on Tabletop Simulator here!
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the two versions different?
Only in theme! The mechanics work exactly the same in both versions, but one is galaxy-focused, and one is kaleidoscope-focused. Regardless of which theme you choose, Four Corners features the same quick-to-learn gameplay; it’s up to you to decide which one suits your fancy!
Where have I seen this board before?
The patented Tip-Pivot tray originally made its debut in Tsuro: Phoenix Rising. Its unique and functional shape makes tile-laying games incredibly fun because the rotation and flipping of tiles do not disturb any of their neighbors!
Which color Tip-Pivot tray comes with which theme?
The production copies of the Kaleidoscope version include a violet-pink tray, and the production copies of the Galaxy version include a black tray. The previews on the campaign page were made using prototype versions of the game when we only had black trays.
Reviews & Playthroughs
Four Corners Solo Playthrough – Join us as we walk you through a solo game of Four Corners™.
The Hungry Gamer’s Four Corners Mini Preview – Join the Hungry Gamer as he explored Four Corners in this mini preview!
NOTE: Previews were done using work-in-progress versions of the game. Components and colors may vary from those shown. Our development of the final ruleset has also not been incorporated into these previews, and minor changes exist. Please see the rulebook PDFs linked above for final rules.
How Will You Play?
