Quartex (2012)

About this game

In Quartex, players take turns placing a tile next to other tiles already in play, growing an expansive tile field on the table. Each tile depicts one-quarter of a symbol on each corner. When you place a tile, the corners of your tile must match the corners of the adjacent tiles. If your tile provides the fourth corner of a shape, thereby completing it, you earn a point token of that color. At the end of your turn you draw a new tile, and the game ends once all the tiles have been placed or no one can add a tile to the field. At the end of the game, players tally their points. Here's the fun scoring twist - each point token is worth as much as the number of tokens of that color not claimed. The player with the most points wins. There are only 10 tokens available for each color, so if all of them are claimed, each one is worth zero points! Thus, you need to be watchful of what tokens you claim. Sometimes, less is more.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 2 to 5.
• Rules load. At 1.0/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 8 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.