Four square - Definition

Four square is a game played usually in American elementary schools (but also seen in Canada, Australia, Bahrain and Kuwait) with a ball and a set of four squares.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

Specific Variants

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.

Allowed and Banned Moves

Players may make certain hits that are considered cheap, unfair, or bad sportsmanship because of the difficulty of receiving the ball. Games with beginners generally choose to ban difficult moves. Some advanced variations will only allow the servers to hit the ball a certain way, such as high bounces. Servers usually specify if they allow or disallow the following:

• "Babies": A name for a hit that bounces less than 10 cm off the ground and goes across a very small horizontal distance.
• "Don't Accept": If there are Outs on Serves, the first receiver still may choose to "not accept" a serve if they made no attempt to hit it.
• "Footsies": A term for when the ball is hit by the leg or foot rather than the hand. It can be harder to hit the ball in a player's own square with the foot, though the hit can be much more powerful than a hit with the hand.
• "High Bounces": Also known as "Jolly Green Giants" or "High Towers", a high bounce is when a ball goes higher than a height of about 1 meter above the receiver's head. More than for being hard to receive, this move is often discouraged for risk of the ball getting on a roof, and for taking much more time than a normal hit.
• "Holdies": The name for when a player holds the ball for longer than they are supposed to set by the server. Usually a player can only hit the ball and not hold it, but some rules allow holding the ball for half a second or less if using a special move.
• "Interceptions": After the ball hits the server's square and before the ball lands in the receiver's square, any player besides the server or receiver may grab the ball and hit it normally as if they received it. This often happens if the ball passes through one players' square but does not bounce in it.
• Lines": When the ball hits the line, it is usually a re-do. Some servers choose for there to be "play-ons" if the ball hits a line: the players continue play as if the ball was in one of the players' squares, and if no player continues, it is a redo. Some servers choose for lines to be automatic outs, or even say multiple players can get out if the line between them is hit by the ball.
• "Outs on Serves": Usually, the first person served to and the server are unable to get out on the first hit, but to make the game move faster sometimes players can get out even on the first hit.
• "Rollies": A term for when the ball rolls, usually done when a "Skimmie" is too low to the ground to tell if it bounces. Generally, the player who committed the rollie is out, though sometimes the play is redone without any player getting out.
• "Skimmies": Similar to Babies in their low height, skimmies are hits that skim across the court quickly. They are initiated by a hit with a fist close to the ground or an underhand "bowling" motion.
• "Steals": The same as interceptions, but they may happen after the bounce in the receivers square.

Wars

If the server chooses to allow them, any player may call a "War" on another player after they receive the ball. Once a War is called, the two players may only hit the ball to each other, as the other squares are considered "out". Therefore, only one of these two players will get out, and gameplay resumes as normal afterward. A server may choose for wars to last until one of the players is out, or may allow one or both players to call "Off-war" and end the war before either player is out, resuming normal play.

Number of Squares

If there are only two players, a square court may be spilt up into two large rectangles, with the privilege of serving alternating. This is usually only entertaining if both players are very good.

Players may also choose to form a larger court of six (two by three) or nine (three by three) squares, to accomodate large amounts of players waiting in line. Players do not receive the ball as frequently, but the gameplay is enhanced as the ball can be hit more directions and further distances. In Six-square and Nine-square, one of the central squares is the server's square, and the other players rotate around it.

Making the Game Harder

If the ball is replaced with a tennis ball, the game of four square becomes far more difficult and interesting, This is commonplace in Australia.

Naming Variants

The squares are sometimes called, from highest to lowest rank:

• A, B, C, D
• Gold, Silver, Bronze, Plastic
• Server, Third, Second, First
• Ace, King, Queen, Jack
• King, Queen, Jack, Dunce
• King, Queen, Jack, Fool
• King, Third, Second, First
• King, Second Square, Third Square, Trash Can
• King, Queen, Jack, Toilet Bowl
• Green (server), Red, Blue, Yellow