The result: each Quads difficulty level beats the one below it. In 10,000 games between the five computer opponents, Grandmaster scored 81.8% against the other four levels, Master 70.2%, Skilled 63.0%, Amateur 33.9% and Rookie 1.2%, counting a draw as half a point. The biggest jump is from Rookie to Amateur, which simply stops handing over winning pieces.
About this test: Quads is our game, and these are our own computer opponents, run unmodified from the app's source code. We publish the numbers because players ask how hard each level is, and because the test showed where the ladder is steep and where it's flat.
What each level does
Every turn in Quads, as in Quarto, is two decisions: where to place the piece you were handed, and which piece to hand your opponent. The levels differ in how well they make each one.
| Level | Placing | Handing over |
|---|---|---|
| Rookie | Random cell. Spots a winning cell only about a quarter of the time. | Random piece, even one that hands you the win. |
| Amateur | Always takes a win. Otherwise plays centrally. | A random piece from those you can't win with. |
| Skilled | Takes a win, else a central cell that leaves it a safe piece to give. | The safe piece that leaves you the fewest safe replies. |
| Master | As Skilled, plus an exact search once 6 or fewer pieces are left to hand over. | As Skilled, plus an exact search with 6 or fewer pieces left. |
| Grandmaster | As Skilled, plus an exact search once 7 or fewer pieces are left. | As Skilled, plus an exact search with 8 or fewer pieces left, and a much bigger search budget. |
The searches are capped by a node budget so the app never freezes on a phone. Outside those windows every level above Rookie relies on the same rules of thumb, which is why the top three are closer together than the bottom three.
The ladder
Score against the other four levels (wins plus half of draws)
| Level | Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grandmaster | 3,200 | 2,504 | 225 | 471 | 81.8% |
| Master | 3,200 | 2,120 | 251 | 829 | 70.2% |
| Skilled | 3,200 | 1,902 | 226 | 1,072 | 63.0% |
| Amateur | 3,200 | 1,072 | 24 | 2,104 | 33.9% |
| Rookie | 3,200 | 39 | 0 | 3,161 | 1.2% |
Three things stand out:
- Not giving away wins is most of the game. Rookie loses almost every game to everyone, because it hands over winning pieces. Amateur fixes only that and jumps to 33.9%.
- Skilled to Master is the smallest step. Master scored 61.4% against Skilled head to head. Master's exact search only covers the last six hand-offs, and by then many games are already decided.
- Grandmaster is clearly on top. It scored 66.9% against Master and 71.6% against Skilled.
Every pairing
Score of the level in each row against the level in each column, over 800 games (400 in each seat). 50% means an even match.
| vs | Rookie | Amateur | Skilled | Master | Grandmaster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rookie | – | 4.5% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| Amateur | 95.5% | – | 15.0% | 13.5% | 11.5% |
| Skilled | 99.9% | 85.0% | – | 38.6% | 28.4% |
| Master | 99.8% | 86.5% | 61.4% | – | 33.1% |
| Grandmaster | 100.0% | 88.5% | 71.6% | 66.9% | – |
Does going first matter?
"First placer" is the player who puts the first piece on the board, which means they received the very first hand-off. Over all 10,000 games, the first placer won 49.9%, the other player 44.0%, and 6.1% were drawn. That total mixes uneven pairings, so the mirror matches are the fairer test:
| Mirror match | First placer wins | Second placer wins | Draws | Average placements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rookie vs Rookie | 49.3% | 50.5% | 0.3% | 9.1 |
| Amateur vs Amateur | 59.8% | 40.0% | 0.3% | 9.2 |
| Skilled vs Skilled | 48.0% | 37.8% | 14.3% | 12.6 |
| Master vs Master | 32.5% | 50.3% | 17.3% | 12.7 |
| Grandmaster vs Grandmaster | 52.5% | 18.5% | 29.0% | 12.7 |
Grandmaster against itself favoured the first placer, 52.5% to 18.5%. Our earlier solver study found the same lean in 5,000 Grandmaster games. It's a property of how our AI plays after a random start, not evidence about perfect play, which in classic Quarto is a draw. Games between stronger levels also run longer: Rookie mirror games ended after 9.1 placements on average, Grandmaster ones after 12.7.
How we ran it
- Every ordered pairing. Each of the 5 levels played each level, itself included, from both seats: 25 pairings, 400 games each.
- Random opening. The levels above Rookie are deterministic, so two of them would play the same game every time. The first two turns of each game were therefore random: a random piece, placed on a random cell that doesn't complete a shape. Then the AIs took over.
- Quads rules. Rows, columns, diagonals and 2×2 squares all win.
- Reproducible. All randomness, including Rookie's and Amateur's, came from a fixed seed (20261028). The code is the app's own AI, unmodified, run on October 28, 2026.
Limits: 400 games per seat gives each percentage a margin of roughly ±5 points. And because only two opening turns are random, some openings recur.
Which level should you play?
- New to the game: start with Rookie to learn the rules, but move to Amateur quickly. Rookie gives away wins, so it can't teach you to spot danger.
- Learning to hand over safe pieces: Amateur and Skilled punish a careless hand-off straight away.
- Practising endgames: Master and Grandmaster search the last turns exactly, so a winning endgame against them is a real one. Grandmaster unlocks once you beat Master.
All five levels are in the free browser version and the apps.
Frequently asked questions
Which Quads level is the hardest?
Grandmaster. In our test it scored 81.8% against the other four levels and 66.9% against Master. It unlocks after you beat Master.
Does the Quads computer cheat?
No. It sees only the board and the pieces left, the same as you, and it has to place the piece you hand it. The stronger levels search ahead exactly in the last few turns of the game.
How do I unlock Grandmaster?
Beat the Master level once. Grandmaster then appears in the level list.
Is Rookie completely random?
Almost. It places on a random cell, noticing an available win only about a quarter of the time, and hands over a random piece, even one you can win with.