How to play
There are sixteen pieces, all different. Each one is tall or short, red or blue, round or square, and hollow or solid.
The twist: you never choose your own piece. Your rival picks one from the pieces left and hands it to you. You place it on any empty square of the 4 × 4 board, then you pick a piece for them.
Whoever places a piece that completes a line of four sharing at least one trait wins. A line can be a row, a column or one of the two long diagonals, and it doesn’t matter who placed the other three. Fill the board with no such line and it’s a draw.
Tips
The danger is in the pick, not the placing. Before you hand a piece over, check every line with three pieces in it: if your piece shares a trait with all three, it wins for your rival. Late in the game, try to place so that every piece left is a winner for you, and your rival runs out of safe pieces to give.