Quoridor

A race-and-block strategy duel against the computer. Move your pawn one step at a time across a 7×7 board to reach the far side first — or spend a turn dropping a wall to send your opponent the long way around. You can never seal anyone off completely, so it is all about clever detours. Win the round to grow your streak as the computer keeps getting smarter.

How to play

You play the blue pawn, starting on the bottom row, and your goal is to reach the top row. The computer is the red pawn, starting on top and heading for the bottom. You take turns, and you go first.

On your turn you do one of two things. Either tap one of the highlighted squares to step your pawn a single space up, down, left, or right; or tap the thin gap between two cells to lay a wall there. A wall is two cells long and stops pawns from passing across it, which is how you force the computer onto a slower route. If the two pawns end up face to face you may jump straight over the opponent.

There is one rule about walls you cannot break: you may never completely block a player off. Every wall you place must still leave both you and the computer at least one open path to your goal rows, so you can delay your opponent but never trap them. You each start with a limited number of walls, shown beside the board, so use them where they cost the computer the most.

The first pawn to reach the opposite side wins the round. Win and your streak goes up by one and a fresh board begins with the computer playing a little sharper — using its walls more aggressively and making fewer mistakes. Lose a single round and the game is over, so your streak is your score.

Tips & strategy

When in doubt, run. A wall costs you a whole turn, so a turn spent building walls is a turn the computer spends advancing. Early on, the fastest way to win is usually just to march toward your goal and only reach for a wall when it clearly pays.

A wall is worth it when it adds more steps to the computer's path than to your own. Before placing one, picture the detour it forces: the best walls bend the opponent's shortest route sharply while barely affecting yours. A wall that slows you both equally is wasted.

Place walls ahead of the computer, not beside it. A wall dropped right next to the opponent's pawn is easy to walk around; a wall placed further along its intended path, near a board edge where detours are longest, costs far more time.

Keep a wall or two in reserve. If you spend them all early you have nothing left to stop a late breakaway. Holding back a couple of walls for the moment the computer is one good dash from winning is often what saves the round — and on higher streaks the computer hoards its walls for exactly that reason.