TIC-TAC-TOE EVOLVED: THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOUR CORNERS

Inspiration can strike in the unlikeliest of places. was sitting at an airport gate, waiting for my plane,” begins Ray Wehrs, and was mesmerized watching these kids next to me play games of Tic-Tac-Toe over and over again.” Wehrs watched as they stalemated numerous times and set right back up to do it again. In that moment, started thinking about how could make the game better.”

- Chris Leder

Ray Wehrs knows a few things about making games. As President of Calliope Games, he is responsible for publishing dozens of games. All of the games Wehrs makes are casual-weight titles spanning multiple themes and classifications. The games he publishes range from tile-laying in Tsuro, to dice-rolling in Roll For It!, and even party games like Hive Mind. To date, Calliope has published many games, but none feature Wehrs as the designer. But as he watched those kids play Tic-Tac-Toe, his mind began working on a design that would be his entirely.

“Four Corners is really simple to play,” Wehrs states. “I wanted the game to offer an approachable strategy. In the end, it’s about matching images; either four in a row or four corners completing one image.” Despite the simplicity of the design, Wehrs wanted to put distance between Four Corners and Tic-Tac-Toe. “Two things set it apart from other abstract games of its kind: board manipulation and deception,” he notes. “Four Corners truly is a living puzzle, and the board changes constantly.”

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