Qwirkle rules: how to play

What's in the box

Qwirkle is played with 108 wooden tiles and a cloth bag, by two to four players, in about 45 minutes. Every tile carries one of six shapes in one of six colours, and each of those 36 combinations appears three times over: 6 × 6 × 3 = 108.

• Six shapes: circle, four-pointed star, diamond, square, clover and eight-pointed starburst
• Six colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple
• Three copies of every shape-and-colour combination
• The bag, which all 108 tiles start in

There is no board. The tiles become the board as you play, spreading across the table in whichever direction the game takes them, so clear more space than you think you need.

Setting up

Setup takes about a minute.

1. Tip all 108 tiles into the bag and give it a shake.
2. Each player draws six tiles and stands them up so nobody else can see them.
3. Everyone counts the largest group of tiles in their hand that share a single colour, or a single shape.
4. Whoever has the largest such group goes first, and plays that group as the opening line.

The opening line is scored like any other placement, so going first is worth real points — which is why a count decides it rather than whoever reaches for the bag. If two players tie on the same number, agree between yourselves who starts; the rules leave that one open.

From then on your hand stays at six tiles: at the end of every turn, draw back up from the bag.

What counts as a line

Everything in Qwirkle comes back to one definition. A line is a run of tiles, in a single row or a single column, that is either:

• all one colour, with every shape in it different, or
• all one shape, with every colour in it different.

A line can never be longer than six tiles, because there are only six shapes and six colours to go round. A line can never repeat a tile either: two red circles cannot sit in the same line, because although they match on colour they fail to differ on shape. That duplicate rule catches people out more than any other part of the game.

A completed line of six is called a Qwirkle, and it is the most valuable thing you can do on a turn.

Taking a turn

On your turn you either place tiles or swap tiles. You cannot do both, and you cannot simply do nothing.

Placing works like this:

1. Play one tile, or several, from your hand onto the table.
2. Every tile you play this turn must go in the same line — one row, or one column, never both.
3. Every tile you play must connect to the tiles already on the table, except on the opening turn of the game.
4. Every line your tiles touch, across and down, has to be a valid line once you are finished.
5. Score the turn, then draw back up to six tiles.

The tiles you place do not have to be next to each other. You can add one at each end of an existing line, or bridge a gap in the middle, as long as the line has no holes left in it when your turn ends.

A tile you place will often sit in two lines at once — the row it extends and the column it starts. Both have to be legal, and both earn points.

Swapping tiles instead

If you cannot place anything, or you just do not like your hand, you can trade: put any number of tiles from your hand back into the bag, draw the same number, and your turn ends. A trade scores nothing.

Once the bag is empty there is nothing left to trade with, so from that point trading stops being an option and play continues with the tiles people are holding.

How the game ends

The game ends the moment one player plays their last tile after the bag has run out. That player scores a six-point bonus on top of the points for the placement itself — often enough to overturn a lead built up over the whole game.

If the bag is empty and nobody can place a tile at all, the game ends there and the bonus goes to nobody. Highest total wins.

Rules people get wrong

Six mistakes account for nearly every rules argument in Qwirkle.

• Placing in two directions in one turn. Every tile you play has to sit in the same row, or the same column. An L shape is not a legal turn.
• Repeating a tile in a line. A line of red tiles may contain each shape only once — a second red square is illegal even though the colour matches.
• Leaving a gap. You may place tiles apart from one another, but the line they sit in must be unbroken by the end of your turn.
• Forgetting the second line. A tile that extends a row and starts a column has to be valid in both, and scores in both.
• Scoring only the tiles you added. A line is worth its whole length, including the tiles that were already there.
• Stopping when the bag empties. Play carries on; players just stop drawing. The game ends when somebody runs out of tiles.

Qwirkle rules: frequently asked questions

Playing tonight? Let your phone handle the arithmetic and the whose-turn-is-it.