Pointrush: A Quoridor Variant for 2 to 4 Players

How Pointrush Works

Pointrush is played on a square board, 11 squares on each side, with one special square in the middle. In classic Quoridor each pawn crosses the board to the opposite edge. Here every pawn starts in the middle of an edge, five squares from the center, and all of them race to the same goal: the center square. Two, three or four players can take part.

1. One action per turn. Move your pawn one square up, down, left or right, or place one wall. Player 1 moves first, then the turns pass in order from Player 2 onward.
2. Starting edges. Player 1 starts at the bottom edge. In a two-player game Player 2 starts at the top edge. With three or four players, Player 2 starts at the left edge, Player 3 at the top edge and Player 4 at the right edge.
3. Walls. Each player has 12 walls in a two-player game, 8 with three players and 6 with four players. A wall is two squares long. It blocks movement across it for every pawn, and walls cannot overlap or cross each other.
4. Keep a path open. You may not place a wall that leaves any pawn with no route to the center square.
5. Meeting other pawns. If another pawn stands right in front of yours, jump over it. If a wall, the edge or a third pawn blocks the jump, step to either side of it instead, as in Quoridor. You can never land on a square that is taken.
6. Winning. The first pawn to step onto the center square wins.

Each turn has a 32 second clock, and each player has 5 minutes for the whole game. If a turn runs out of time, the game moves your pawn one step along its shortest route. If your 5 minutes run out, you lose.

Things to Think About

Every route ends on the same square, so the lanes cross in the middle and the pawns crowd the last few squares. A wall near the center slows everyone, not only the player you aimed at, and with three or four players a wall that holds back one rival can help another. Watch who is closest, and save your walls for the moment the leader is about to arrive.

For the full wall, jump and side-step rules, read the Quoridor rules. Pointrush uses them, with the center square as the only goal.

Playing With Friends Online

Choose "With invited friends", pick the number of players and create a room. You get an invitation link and a short pairing code. Each friend opens the link, or types the code on the join a room page, and picks a name. The game starts as soon as every seat is taken, and the players move in turn, each on their own device. If a player leaves a game of three or four, the game ends for everyone and nobody wins.

Pointrush: Frequently Asked Questions