Four square is a playground ball game where four players each stand in one quarter of a large square court, bouncing a rubber ball back and forth until someone makes a mistake and gets eliminated. It’s one of the most popular recess games in American schools, requiring nothing more than a bouncy ball and some painted lines. The term “four square” also shows up in a few other contexts, from car dealership sales tactics to a Christian denomination, so this article covers all of them.
The Playground Game
Four square is played on a 10-by-10-foot court divided into four equal 5-by-5-foot squares. Each square is labeled A through D (or 1 through 4), and one player stands in each. The player in square D (or 4) is the highest-ranked player and serves to start each round. The far outside corner of that square contains a small 1.5-by-1.5-foot service box where the server must keep both feet until the serve is complete.
To serve, you drop the ball once in your own square and then hit it with any part of your hand into another player’s square. From there, players take turns hitting the ball after it bounces once in their square, sending it into someone else’s square. The ball can only bounce once per square. You can use an open palm, a fist, or the back of your hand, but you cannot catch, carry, or hold the ball.
You’re out if the ball bounces more than once in your square before you hit it, if you hit the ball onto a line or out of bounds, or if you catch or hold the ball. When someone is eliminated, they go to the back of a waiting line, and everyone else moves up one square to fill the gap. The person at the front of the line enters at square A (or 1), the lowest-ranked position. The goal is to work your way up to square D and stay there as long as possible.
What makes four square endlessly replayable is the house rules. Groups often add custom rules like “cherry bombs” (slamming the ball down hard), “bus stops” (temporarily pausing play), or requiring players to spin before hitting. These variations change from school to school and even from game to game, which is part of the appeal.
The Car Dealership Tactic
In car sales, “the four square” refers to a negotiation worksheet that some dealerships use when working a deal with a buyer. It’s a sheet of paper divided into four boxes, each representing a different financial variable: the purchase price of the vehicle, your trade-in value, your down payment, and your monthly payment. A salesperson fills in numbers and adjusts them during back-and-forth negotiations.
The tactic works in the dealership’s favor because it lets the salesperson shift numbers between boxes in ways that look like concessions but may not actually save you money. For example, a dealer can lower your monthly payment while quietly raising the purchase price by stretching the loan from three years to six years. You feel like you won a negotiation, but you end up paying significantly more in total interest. Consumer Reports has flagged this as one of the more common sales tactics buyers should understand before walking into a dealership.
Some salespeople will also ask you to initial the worksheet next to a written promise that you’ll buy the car if the numbers work out. This carries no legal weight whatsoever. It’s a psychological pressure tool designed to make you feel committed to the deal even if you’re not ready.
The Writing Method
The Four Square Writing Method is a graphic organizer used in elementary and middle school classrooms to teach structured essay writing. Students draw a large square divided into four sections with a smaller box in the center, creating five spaces total. The center box holds the topic sentence. The surrounding squares contain a supportive opening sentence, two additional supporting sentences, and a summary sentence. It gives young writers a visual framework for organizing their thoughts before drafting a full paragraph or essay.
The Foursquare Church
The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel is a Pentecostal Christian denomination. Its name comes from its belief in the fourfold ministry of Jesus Christ: Savior, Healer, Baptizer with the Holy Spirit, and Coming King. These four roles are represented in the church’s logo and form the core of its theology.
The Tech Company
Foursquare started as a location-based social media app that let users “check in” at restaurants, bars, and other venues. The company eventually split its consumer product into two apps: Foursquare City Guide (for discovering local businesses) and Swarm (for check-ins and competing with friends). Foursquare has since sunset the City Guide app to focus entirely on Swarm for its consumer users, while business listings and user-created lists remain accessible through Swarm and the web. The company’s main business today is selling location data and technology to other companies rather than running a consumer social network.