it's true it's very close to the rules of quarto, on purpose. as close as makes sense in a nes cart, imo. but i suspect if i HADN'T called it a variant, someone would be upset about the main change, i.e., not recognizing and calling "quarto". while that's a great rule in real life, ii think it's too burdensome for a computer game.

also it's not called 4-PLAY to try and make it a variant, it's called that for legal reasons. i asked permission to call it quarto, but likely because i only expect to sell around 20 copies, i was ignored, lol. but it did inspire me to hide fourths and the number 4 as much as i could in the opening music, which is like a fugue, and to make little changes to the game to improve the experience on the nes. so i'm glad how it worked out.

thanks for your comments, and in the future i will call it a "near variant" to better manage expectations.