Quarto!® is a strategy game I copied from a board game of the same name.
The object of this game is to be the first person (or computer) to correctly declare that there is a line of four pieces, each of which shares at least one attribute.
There are four attributes: shape (round or rectangular), height (tall or squat), color (white or grey), and plain or dotted.
Play is pretty simple. You can decide who goes first, or let the computer randomize (going first means choosing a piece for your opponent to place). A turn consists of two elements:
1. Placing the piece that your opponent chose for you. If this causes you to win, declare so now. Otherwise,
2. Choosing your opponent’s next piece to place.
If you do not declare your win, then when you choose your opponent’s next piece to place, he or she or it can declare the win. Similarly, if your opponent does not declare his or her or its win, you may declare the win when your opponent chooses a piece for you to place.
It is possible to have a tie game.
This computer game features:
• Complete undo and redo.
• Sound and messages you can disable.
• You can save games at any point, and open them again exactly where you left off
(so if you just “undid” a few moves, you can save it that way, and “redo” them
when you open the game later).
• Five levels of play:
•“Foolish” will win if you give it a piece that enables it to win instantly,
but doesn’t check if the piece it gives you enables you to win.
•“Beginner” checks that the piece it gives you won’t let you win right away.
You can often get it in a position where it is forced to give you a winning piece, though.
•“Novice” checks one more move ahead than “Beginner” after the fifth piece has been played.
•“Intermediate” is like “Novice,” but checks ahead after the fourth piece, and even one further
after the seventh piece has been played. I find this level very hard to beat, but I can often tie it.
•“Tough” checks a move ahead after the third piece, two moves ahead after the fifth piece,
three moves ahead after the eighth piece, and looks ahead to the end of the game after
the ninth piece. I’ve never beaten this level, though I’ve tied it.
Things I haven’t implemented yet:
• It only allows computer vs. human play.
• No advanced options (“square” games).
I haven’t tested it very extensively on a variety of systems…in fact, I have only developed and run it on a Duo 280 running System 7.1.1. It isn’t too slow on my system, but it probably will be on anything less than a 68030, at least, on “intermediate” or “tough” levels of play. Play should be very fast on “foolish” or “beginner,” and should be fast enough on “novice” on most computers (I hope). You can uncheck the “Allow background tasks” menu item to make the computer faster, but I don’t recommend it—it will keep you from switching the game to the background, and won’t let other applications have any processor time.
Feel free to colorize the game pieces, if you like, using a resource editor, but don’t change their type (round, dotted, grey, tall) or resource IDs, and don’t change their size much. Also, don’t change the names of the sounds if you decide to replace them with something more to your own liking. And please don’t distribute modified copies of the game.
If you like this game, I heartily recommend that you buy the commercial board game. It is manufactured and distributed in the USA by The Great American Trading Co., 90 Willow Springs Circle, York, PA 17402. It is copyright 1993 by GIGAMIC S.A., 6 Bd du Prince Albert, 62200 Boulogne Sur Mer, France. The Great American Trading Co. had no objection to my release of this game.
Quarto!® is freeware. Source code is freely available.
