Home > Four square

1 Equipment

The game of four square requires a ball. The ball may be a rubber or "bouncy" playground ball, such as is used in the game of kickball or a basketball. A volleyball generally makes for very poor gameplay, and its use is not recommended. Four square is played on a square court divided into four smaller squares of equal size. There is no "regulation" size of the interior squares, and since the game is played by both younger children and older children, considerations must be made for the size of the players. Many playgrounds have four square courts painted on the pavement, but if no such pre-fabricated court exists, large cement tiles that are of the same size and have clearly defined edges make excellent substitutions. Also, sidewalk chalk may be used on a driveway or road to make a court from scratch.

2 Gameplay

A round of four square is started by the square in the highest position and played until someone gets "out" or there is a disagreement about the outcome of a round. (For example, if the ball hits one of the lines, there may be confusion. Note that there is at least one variant, "poison lines," dictating that hitting a line gets the player out.)

2.1 The Squares

The four squares of the court represent progressively higher positions. There are multiple naming schemes, which will be covered in the Variant section. But in each there is a highest position, the fourth square, that serves the ball and starts play. The fourth square is also responsible for announcing any variants that will be active for that round. The other three squares, third, second, and first square, carry no such special privileges. If the player in fourth square gets "out," the player in third square moves to take her place, the second square moves to take the third square's place, and so on for the first square player. If there are only four players, the play in fourth square moves to first square. If there are more than four players, the outed fourth square moves to the end of a line of waiting players outside (and sufficiently away from) the bounds of the court, and the player at the front of the line moves into first square.

2.2 Getting Out

There are many ways to get out. These rules only make up the default set, and some portions are modified or ignored by a multitude of variants. The rules which are very commonly changed are denoted by asterisks.

A Player is out if:

1. The ball bounces from their square to outside the bounds of the court.
2. The ball bounces from their square to another player's square without interaction with the Player.
3. The ball bounces in their square twice.
4. The Player hits the ball and it goes outside the bounds of the court.
5. The Player hits the ball in such a way that his fingers are pointed upwards.* This is called a downhit.
6. The Player hits the ball before it bounces once in their square.* This is called an airhit.
7. The Player hits the ball after it has bounced in another player's square.

3 Variants

There are as many variants as there are playgrounds. The variants often have cool-sounding names such as black magic, white magic, bus stops, cherry bombs, and voodoo squares. A variant may be invented at any time. The player of highest rank, the one who serves the ball to begin play, is responsible for declaring any and all variants. The declaration "regular" is understood to mean the standard rules, listed above.

3.1 Specific Variants

3.1.1 Category Four Square

In this version, the server names a category (e.g. types of drinks or girl's names) before play starts, and each player must name something in that category when they hit the ball. If a player fails to come up with an accurate item in the category, they are out.