3 Quarters — complete the three-quarter circle

not checked yet

'3 Quarters' is a warm up game. One is receptive, when one is perceiving risk. In '3 Quarters' we constantly feel risk. The risk of some move we are making being helpful to other players and contributing to their winning the round is something all players are mindful of.

Timeplay to 25 points
Players2–4 players

From 3 Quarters, a board game by Prayas Abhinav.

What it shows a designer

Every piece placed can complete someone else's circle, so each move weighs your gain against what it gives away, under a 20-second clock. It shows interaction through a shared board, and time as pressure.

Credits

Made by: Prayas Abhinav, 2022, as a warm-up game for students
Rules from: Rules, board and pieces at github.com/prayasabhinav/games, under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; where a piece goes, what the die turns and which circles count were settled by the designer in October 2026
Sources: github.com/prayasabhinav/games/tree/main/3-quarters

What you need

the board, printed from https://github.com/prayasabhinav/games/raw/main/3-quarters/3-quarters-board.pdf : 3 columns by 8 rows of squares; play on the red rows with 2 players, add the green rows for 3, and the blue row for 4; the yellow squares double a circle's score
the pieces, printed from https://github.com/prayasabhinav/games/raw/main/3-quarters/3-quarters-pieces.pdf and cut out: for each player, 8 quarter circles, two each of crosshatched (1 point), dotted (2), plain (3) and black (4)
a four-sided die (d4)
a phone to time each move

How to play

Set up. Play on the red rows with 2 players, add the green rows for 3, and the blue row for 4. Each player takes their eight quarter-circle pieces. Toss a coin to see who starts.
Pieces. A piece fills one square and faces one of its four corners. Its pattern sets its points: crosshatched 1, dotted 2, plain 3, black 4.
A turn. Roll the die first. Then arrange one piece: add one of yours to an empty square, turn any piece on the board, yours or another player's, or remove one. A piece you add or turn goes round as many corners as the die shows; a 4 turns it full circle.
Three quarters. Three pieces in three of the four squares around one shared corner, each facing that corner, make a 3/4 circle. All three must have the same pattern. They can belong to anyone.
Remove. To remove a quadrant, place a quadrant with the same pattern on it. Take both (without adding the points that both pieces have). A player can remove a piece only three times in a game.
Score a circle. The player who completes the 3/4 circle removes the pieces from the board and takes as many points as the constituent pieces. If one of its quadrants is on a yellow square, the score is doubled.
Keep the board. Avoid emptying the board: the player whose move empties it loses 10 points.
Time and the win. Each move has to be made in 20 s; use a mobile to keep time. The player with 25 points first wins.

After playing, talk about

When did a move of yours help another player finish a circle?
How did the 20-second limit change your play?
Was 25 points too quick a target, or about right?

Its blocks

Download it as a design (.md)

In boardgameBuilder, Open game puts its blocks on the canvas. Changed, the same file can come back here from Propose a game.