Quoridor Rules: How to Play
Quoridor is an award-winning abstract strategy board game designed by Mirko Marchesi and published by Gigamic in 1997, based on Philip Slater's 1975 game Blockade. It is also played online under the name Barricade. Two pawns, a stock of walls and a 9×9 board produce a surprisingly deep race-and-block battle.
Each player controls one pawn and a stock of walls: 10 walls each in the two-player game, 5 each with four players. Your pawn starts on the center square of your baseline.
Once you know the rules, you can play Quoridor online for free against an AI or your friends — no download needed.
The Board and Setup
The board is a 9×9 grid of squares separated by grooves where walls can be placed. In a two-player game, one pawn starts on the center square of the bottom row and the other on the center square of the top row.
Each player receives 10 walls in the two-player game, or 5 walls with four players. Every wall is two squares long and stands in the grooves between squares.
Who moves first can be agreed or drawn by lot — official play randomizes the first move, and so does our online version.
The Goal
In the two-player game, the first pawn to reach the opposite side of the board wins: Player 1 races from bottom to top, Player 2 from top to bottom.
You do not need to reach the exact center of the far side. Any square on the opposite edge counts.
On Your Turn: Move or Place a Wall
On every turn you do exactly one of two things: move your pawn one square, or place one wall. You can never do both, and placing a wall is never mandatory.
If you have no walls left, you simply keep moving your pawn — the game continues as normal.
Moving Your Pawn
A pawn moves one square at a time, up, down, left or right — never diagonally in a normal move.
If an adjacent square is occupied by an opponent's pawn and the square directly behind it is free and open, you jump straight over the pawn.
If the straight jump is impossible because a wall stands directly behind that pawn, you may instead move to either free square beside it.
Key clarification: an opponent's pawn is never a real obstacle. Even if a pawn stands on your only route, you can always jump over it — only walls restrict movement, never pawns.
Placing Walls
A wall is two squares long and must fit completely in the grooves between squares. Once placed, a wall stays for the rest of the game — walls are never removed.
Walls may touch end to end and form longer barriers, but two walls may never cross each other.
You cannot place a wall that would leave any player without at least one path to their goal. Illegal placements are refused — in our online version the preview simply turns red.
Wall placement is the most mis-read part of the rules: making an opponent's path longer is perfectly legal; only making it impossible is not.
The One Path Rule
The only restriction on wall placement: at every moment, every player must still have at least one route to their goal row (or to the crown in King of the Hill).
Greatly lengthening an opponent's path is legal — it is the heart of the game. Only complete enclosure is forbidden.
For the purpose of this rule, pawns count as passable: since pawns can always be jumped, a route 'through' a pawn is still a route.
Four-Player Differences
In the four-player game, each player starts at the center of one side and races to the opposite side: bottom to top, left to right, top to bottom, right to left.
Each player has 5 walls instead of 10, and the first player to reach their opposite edge wins immediately.
Four-player games are wilder: five walls cannot stop three opponents, so timing matters even more than in the duel.
King of the Hill Variant
King of the Hill is a four-player variant in our online version: instead of racing to the opposite edge, all four players race to the crown in the exact center of the board.
The first player to move onto the central square wins. Everyone blocks everyone, so the closer you get to the crown, the fiercer the endgame becomes.
Every other rule — moving, jumping, wall placement and the one path rule — is identical to the four-player classic. As a first-move compensation, the first player starts the game with only 4 walls instead of 5.
Strategy Basics for Beginners
Advance before you wall. In the first five or six moves, pushing your pawn toward its goal is usually worth more than any early wall.
Count both shortest paths — yours and your opponent's — before every decision. Walls are best spent where they lengthen the opponent's path more than your own.
Keep two or three walls in reserve for the endgame, and remember a counter-intuitive truth experienced players swear by: sometimes the best wall is the one that protects your own remaining route, not the one dropped right in front of your opponent's nose.
Quick Reference
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Normal move | One square orthogonally (up/down/left/right), if no wall blocks the edge. |
| Jump | Straight over an adjacent pawn when the square behind is free and open. |
| Side step | Diagonally beside a jumped pawn, only when the straight jump is walled off. |
| Place a wall | One wall (2 segments) in the grooves, instead of moving. 10 walls each in 2-player, 5 in 4-player. |
| Illegal wall | Any placement that leaves a player with no path to their goal, or that crosses another wall. |
| Winning | Reach any square of the opposite edge (classic) or the center crown (King of the Hill). |
These are the complete rules of the classic game — a full game takes about 15 minutes once both players know the moves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have another question? Let us know.
Can a wall completely block a player?
No. A wall may make a player's path much longer, but it may never remove their last route to the goal. Every player must always have at least one open path, and illegal placements are automatically rejected in our online version.
What happens if an opponent's pawn stands on my only path?
Nothing bad — pawns are not obstacles. You jump straight over an adjacent pawn, and if a wall blocks the jump you sidestep to a free square beside it. Only walls can restrict movement.
Can walls touch or cross each other?
Walls may touch end to end and form longer barriers, but two walls may never cross. A new wall is only rejected when it would cross the middle of a perpendicular wall.
How does jumping work exactly?
If an adjacent square holds an opponent's pawn and the square directly behind it is free and not walled off, you leap over the pawn in a straight line. If the square behind is blocked by a wall, you may instead move to either free square beside that pawn.
How many walls do players get, and what if I run out?
Two-player games give each player 10 walls; four-player games give 5. When your walls run out the game continues — from then on you only move your pawn.
Is it better to block my opponent or to build my own path?
Both matter, but strong players usually prioritize their own shortest path and spend walls where they lengthen the opponent's route more than their own. A wall that barely helps you while barely slowing the opponent is usually a wasted wall.
What is King of the Hill?
It is a four-player variant in our online version: all players race to the crown in the center of the board instead of the opposite edge, and the first pawn to reach the center square wins. Every other rule stays the same. To keep the race fair, the first player starts with only 4 walls instead of 5.
Where does Quoridor come from?
Quoridor was designed by Mirko Marchesi and published by Gigamic in 1997, based on the earlier game Blockade (Philip Slater, 1975). Online you will also find it under the name Barricade.
Ready to Play?
Play Quoridor free in your browser — against an adaptive AI or friends on one screen. No download, no signup.
Play Quoridor OnlineThis page covers the classic published rules of Quoridor for educational purposes. Quoridor is published by Gigamic; this site is an unofficial implementation and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Gigamic.
