How to Play Quoridor: Complete Beginner's Guide (2026)

Quoridor is a 2- or 4-player abstract strategy game played on a 9×9 grid. Each player controls a single pawn and 10 walls (5 walls with 4 players). The goal is simple: be the first to reach the opposite side of the board. But the twist — walls — turns every match into a spatial puzzle.

Setup

Place each pawn on the middle square of their starting edge. In a 2-player game, players face off top and bottom. In a 4-player game, pawns start on all four edges and each player begins with 5 walls.

On your turn

On each turn you either move your pawn one square (up, down, left, right — no diagonals) or place one wall. You cannot do both.

Movement

• Move one square orthogonally into an empty square.
• If an opponent's pawn is adjacent, you may jump over it, landing on the square directly behind.
• If a wall or the edge blocks the jump, you may sidestep diagonally around the opponent instead.

Wall placement

• Walls are two squares long and slot between rows or columns.
• You may never fully seal off a player — every pawn must always have at least one path to their goal row.
• Walls cannot overlap or cross each other.

Winning

The first pawn to touch any square of the opposite edge wins. In 4-player games, each pawn's goal is the edge directly opposite where they started.

Play online

You can play Quoridor free in your browser at playquoridor.online — quick match, private rooms, bot practice, or a live 4-player free-for-all.