The "Minuet" Dancing Ceremony

An essential part of a Quaternity game is the preparation phase, which I like to call the Minuet Dance Ceremony—named for its small, deliberate steps back and forth, and sideways, seemingly without any immediate purpose or meaning.

In some games, this preparatory stage seems endless, with over a hundred moves played before any decisive action shifts the overall dynamics. However, it serves a crucial role in arranging and positioning pieces, ensuring their safety, and carefully observing the moves of the other three players. This phase is an opportunity to intuit the opponents’ intentions, identify any undefended pieces, and assess whether a clear offensive move is taking shape.

If this phase stretches on for too long without any engagement, the game becomes excessively passive—overly defensive and static—which, in some ways, diminishes the beauty of a fluid and interactive battle. Yet, inevitably, a moment arrives when this equilibrium is broken, and all four players become involved in a spiraling sequence of continuous change.

Watching the first seventy moves in fast motion, accompanied by the music below, conveys this idea far better than a thousand explanations.

The credit for the music goes, of course, to Wolfgang A. Mozart: Cassation in B-flat, K.99: 6. Minuet.

Enjoy the dance.

♛♔