The Quatro glossary

The words of Quatro, from four of a kind to counter, as the game screen uses them. Each one points to a specific rule: when in doubt, the rules page has the final say.

Call: The shout of “Quatro!” It looks at the hand of the caller’s partner, never the caller’s own: if it is right, it gives a point to their team; if it is wrong, it gives one to every other team. Either way, the round stops.
Channel: What you send out once you have taken control: an emoji, shown to the whole table every five seconds. It is the only way to tip off your partner.
Four of a kind: Four cards of the same rank in one hand. It is what everyone tries to collect, and what the partner has to call. Only the rank counts: the suit is mere decoration.
Center: The four cards laid face up in the middle of the table. Everyone swaps a card from their hand with a center space, without waiting for a turn, with two seconds between one swap and the next.
Counter: The shout that accuses an opposing team of holding four of a kind: “Counter!” If either player on that team holds one, your team scores a point; if not, the point goes to the accused team.
Team: Two partners sitting across from each other. The game is played by four, six or eight players: two, three or four teams, each scoring its own points.
Decoy: An emoji you send that isn’t your real sign. Nothing forbids it: a well-placed decoy gets an opposing team to counter when it shouldn’t, and the point goes to your team.
Drawn round: A round in which nobody has called or countered by the time its three minutes are up. Nobody scores, and play moves on to the next one.
New hand: A hand dealt with three cards of the same rank is immediately replaced, because it would be almost won before play begins. The table is told about it, without learning which rank it was.
Partner: The player sitting across from you. They are the only one who can call your four of a kind, and you theirs: that is why you need a sign.
Take control: To open your channel so you can send an emoji. The whole table can see that you have taken control. You have to wait two seconds between taking control and giving it back.
Reshuffle: To deal everything again, hands and center, when nobody wants the cards in the center any more. It takes the agreement of every connected player within twenty seconds, and it can happen only once per round.
Sign: The emoji two partners agree on before each round, out of twenty-four. The first of the two to choose it sets it; nobody else knows it, and it changes every round.

The words of the site — pearls, leaderboard, progress — are shared by every game, but for now a game of Quatro earns no experience, no pearls and no place on the leaderboard. They are defined in the general glossary.