EvenMore Games
The new games revolve around forming Quads as well as using the biographies of the honorees. The original Quad Collector game was developed by Dr. Lauren Rose and Jeffrey Pereira.
Visit here for rules to the EvenQuads Beginner, Regular and Solitaire versions and here for rules to play EvenBetter.
A Quad consists of four cards that, simultaneously and for each attribute, must feature
- the same value of the attribute (example: all four cards have the same number of symbols), or
- distinct values of attributes (example: all cards have different symbols), or
- two cards with one value of an attribute and the other two cards with another value of the same attribute (example: two cards have green symbols and two cards have pink symbols).
Examples of Quads.
Flip to see why this is a quad
The four cards feature different colors, have the same number of symbols, and all have the same symbol.
Flip to see why this is a quad
The four cards feature different colors, have two cards with one symbol and two other cards with another symbol, and have two cards with one symbol and another two cards with two symbols.
Flip to see why this is a quad
The four cards feature the same color, different numbers of symbols, and different symbols.
Examples of Non-Quads
Flip to see why this is not a quad
The four cards fail to be a Quad because the number of symbols is not all the same, not all distinct, and not two-and-two.
Flip to see why this is not a quad
The four cards fail to be a Quad because neither the number nor kind of symbols is all the same, all different, or two-and-two.
Flip to see why this is not a quad
The four cards fail to be a Quad because the symbols are not all the same, not all distinct, and not two-and-two.
Use the online version of the QUADS app for more examples of Quads. The game was developed by Dr. Lauren Rose and Jeffrey Pereira.
Games that use bios
Games that use both sides of the cards
Different Games that use Quads
Number of players: 2 or more.
Set-up: Shuffle the deck. Each player needs a piece of paper and a writing implement. The dealer lays out 16 cards logo-side-up on the table.
Game Play for a Round:
- The dealer sets a timer for 4 minutes.
- All players look for Quads, without touching the cards.
- Each player makes a list of the Quads ze identifies.
- When the timer goes off, players put down their writing implements.
- Each player in turn describes hir listed Quads. Any Quad that another player has listed is removed from all lists.
- Each player earns one point for each remaining Quad on hir list.
- (Optional) A player listing a non-Quad loses one point.
Rounds are played until at least one player earns 16 points. The winner is then the player with the highest number of points.
Creator: Tom Hull
Implementation: sarah-marie belcastro
Click here for a short video tutorial.
Use two EvenQuads decks.
Set-up: The dealer lays out ten cards on the table.
New Rule: An EvenQuad consists of four cards that, simultaneously and for each attribute, must feature an even number of cards of each value. That is, for each attribute (shape, number, color, and background style) no cards must have the same value, all four cards must have the same value, or two cards must have one value and the other two cards must have a different value. (This differs from regular Quad Collector only in that the background style of the four cards must all be the same, or two must be one style and two the other style.)
Game Play: Proceeds as does regular Quad Collector.
Creator: Lauren Rose
Set-up:
- Shuffle the deck.
- Deal the top card, face up, to the top of the table. This is the match card.
- Deal 9 cards in a square below the match card.
Game Play:
- All players look for three cards from the square that form a Quad with the match card.
- Someone who finds a Quad Match yells “Quad!” and indicates the three cards completing the Quad to the other players.
- The player who correctly calls “Quad!” takes the three cards completing the Quad and the dealer deals three more cards.
- If no player finds a Quad Match, one additional card is dealt out.
- The game ends when the deck is depleted and no Quads can be completed using the match card.
- The winner is the player who collected the most matched Quads.
Challenge: Noting that there are 63 active cards and that this is the same number of nonzero elements of \(Z_2^6\), can you construct an isomorphism to the game Projective Set?
Creator: Lauren Rose
Players: 2 – 4.
Set-up: Deal 7 cards to each player, and lay out 8 cards face-up in the center as the pool.
Game play is simultaneous. A hand ends when a player has no cards left in their hand.
- Each player tries to form a Quad using 1–3 cards from the hand and the remaining cards from the pool. (Note: a player may not form a Quad entirely from the pool or entirely from the hand.)
- Someone who finds a Quad yells “Quad!” and indicates the four cards in the Quad to the other players.
- The player who correctly calls “Quad!” takes the four Quad cards, and the dealer replaces removed pool cards. If a “Quad!” call is incorrect, the player must add all four cards to their hand.
- After a player declares “I can’t find a Quad,” if within the next minute no player can find a Quad, then the whole pool is replaced: Put the old pool on the bottom of the deck, deal 8 new cards, and shuffle the remaining deck.
- If the deck is exhausted a smaller pool can be used to continue play until everyone declares they can’t make any quads, at which point the hand ends.
Scoring: In each hand, a player gets as many points as Quads that player laid down. The player who goes out earns 3 additional points. The game ends when the first player earns 20 points, and that player is the winner.
Level: Advanced.
Number of players: 1 to 5, one of whom is the searcher.
Set-up: Shuffle the deck and place it logo-side-up.
Phase 1: Proceed in rounds as follows.
- The searcher deals three cards to each other player. (If playing solo, do deal three cards to yourself.)
- Each player identifies the unique fourth card that will complete the three cards to a Quad.
- The searcher looks through the deck to find the identified cards and complete the Quads.
- If an identified card is not in the deck, because some player holds the unique fourth card needed by another player:
- Phase 1 ends (unless this happens in the first round of searching, in which case the players should restart Phase 1).
- Set aside all complete Quads and return remaining cards to the deck.
- If all identified cards were found in the deck, deal another round.
Phase 2: Players collaborate to try to form all remaining cards into Quads, with no cards left over. The players collectively win if there are no cards left over after forming the maximal number of Quads.
Notes and questions:
- If it is possible to win, what is a winning strategy?
- Necessary and sufficient conditions for winning are not known.
- If the parity of the number of cards per value is not the same for a given attribute, it is not possible to win the game. (Challenge to the reader: do you see why?)
- What is the maximum number of Quads that can be removed during Phase 1 and still have a winning strategy for Phase 2?
- Is this related to “cap sets” for the EvenQuads deck, and if so, how?
Creator: Denise A. Rangel Tracy.
Use only the green and pink cards from an EvenQuads deck. (Or choose your own favorite two colors.)
Set-up: The dealer lays out eight cards on the table.
New Rule: An EvenQuad consists of four cards that, simultaneously and for each attribute, must feature an even number of cards of each value. That is, for each attribute (shape, number, color, and background style) no cards must have the same value, all four cards must have the same value, or two cards must have one value and the other two cards must have a different value. (This differs from regular Quad Collector only in that the color of the four cards must all be the same, or two must be one color and two the other color.)
Game Play: Proceeds as does regular Quad Collector.
Inspired by Lauren Rose’s EvenQuad Collector 128.
Set-up: Shuffle the deck. Set aside the top card, face down.
Game Play:
- Proceed as in EvenQuad Collector 32 (or, for an additional challenge, Regular Quad Collector).
- When the deck is exhausted, each player guesses which card has been set aside. (Optional: players may have a discussion in advance of the guessing round.)
- The player who correctly identifies the missing card wins the last group of cards as a “bonus Quad.”
- The winner is the player who collected the most Quads.
Note: When using 32 cards, it is guaranteed that the last four cards will form a Quad. (This result is known but not published as of Fall 2026.) With 64 cards, this property is not guaranteed but there must be even numbers of cards with each attribute remaining in the final layout. This, together with the fact that each attribute value occurs the same number of times in the deck, players can determine the missing card.
Creator: Lauren Rose.
Number of players: Any. This can be played as a solitaire game, or with 2–4 players, or in teams.
Set-up: Shuffle the deck and deal 16 cards symbol-side-up into a 4 x 4 grid.
Game Play:
- The goal is to find a quad in either a row, a column, or along a diagonal.
- A turn consists of choosing a row, column, or diagonal, and cycling the cards by one position along that row, column, or diagonal. Examples are shown below.
- If there are 3 or more players, then there is a 2-minute time limit per move.
- If at the end of a turn a player or team sees a quad in a row, column, or diagonal, this quad is picked up and cards are replaced from the deck. The player/team may pick up multiple quads as long as the cards are disjoint.
- If replacement cards form a quad, or if a player/team does not see a quad during their turn, the next player/team may claim that quad.
- Gameplay ends when the deck is depleted and all possible quads are retrieved. When spaces on the board cannot be filled, condense the board in accordance to the collected quad type (i.e. row/column/diagonal)
- Whichever player/team has the most quads at the end of the game wins.
Variant: Include affine lines (“broken diagonals,” as in a diagonal of 3 wrapping around to 1 or a diagonal of 2 wrapping around to 2) as possibilities for both cycling of cards and locations to find quads.
Creator: Monica Mulhern, Muhlenberg College class of 2026, was inspired by the motions of Rubik’s Cubes, magic/semimagic/strong magic squares, and Tic-Tac-Toe on the Finite Plane by Maureen T. Carroll and Steven T. Dougherty.
