5 Quoridor openers you must know

[@Brady_Litzinger]

Would love to see more content. I’m just getting into the game and not enough guides out there

[@quoridorstrategy]

Nice :D I may do more content if this video gets enough views/subscribers :) I agree that there is very little content available today

[@quoridorstrategy]

Don't forget to subscribe if you enjoyed the video :D I will make more videos if I see that enough people are interested !

[@jonathanbush6197]

This is a great start for newbies, which leaves me with lots of questions. That free board site has some bugs, unfortunately. I would love to see more videos. Is there a compilation of puzzles anywhere? Thank you!

[@quoridorstrategy]

Hi, thank you for your comment :) You can ask your questions here and I may try to respond ! Indeed, the site has a bug in some cases when I try to record some moves at some times, but nothing very critical. As long as you input the correct code, everything should be right. If you want some puzzles, you can go to the Board Game Arena community group Quoridor Academy, which contains many puzzles and solutions :)

[@powderhound1234]

Thank you for the video. Any more would be appreciated.

[@Omegaplex]

Hi! Good video! Could you please make a more detailed video about the X-Black opener? I keep seeing it and similar variations on BGA but I don't know how to play against this opener. By the way, I think it would be really cool and informative if you dedicated separate videos to each popular opener. That way we'd have a better chance to study frequent situations on the board! Thank you :)

[@quoridorstrategy]

Good idea :) I may do this !

[@kristovatlas]

I'm new to the game, very informative.

[@petersugrue2817]

I played this on ketamine the other day. It was so tense. I recommend it.

[@quoridorstrategy]

🤔

[@Just_me509]

Amazing video thank you

[@IoanVladareanu]

Merci beaucoup for your dedication! One remark for X-Black, you put in video explanation text this code: "j8MAHIXNwBw", but in video there is slightly different: "j8MAHAXNwBw" ... Probably, both are variants for X-Black 🙂 Also, for the ones interested I'll put here your presentation codes: STANDARD-COPY / MIRROR ---- z7EUwGwOwCQUlaqXqOPc2uWhnoi3irWMs46xBA FRESH-PRINCE-ERIC ---- z7EUwHMPMCQGlbWXt+tA z7EUwHMPMCQIlbWXtw2w6g z7EUwHMPMCQDC1mw BLACK-RUSH ---- z7oAAXNwBwKCjay8PlutMw z7oAAXNwBwCpbI COOL-STORY-BRO ---- y0MAFQNQBQNaSZGkCzSKt/K8 Sante!

[@alexhdja1443]

Please do more!

[@quoridorstrategy]

Thanks ! I will probably do another one soon

[@HarmonieChaotique]

Amazing video

[@rajviglasbrook4483]

Excellent video. Thank you for this. Just a big (probably silly) question, however. What part of the game is the incentive for players to build fences at all? Why not just move the pawns across?

[@quoridorstrategy]

Hey! Thank you for your comment:) Play some games and you'll see soon enough 😉 if you place 0 fence, your opponent will be able to circle you and force you to go in the direction he wants. You'd be forced to follow his path to his victory

[@rajviglasbrook4483]

Thank you so much for replying 😃 I’ve only just got the game so brand new to it! Hence the silly question. Looking forward to getting playing.

[@quoridorstrategy]

@@rajviglasbrook4483 I hope you will enjoy:D you can play online on Board Games Arena as well if you want to step up faster !

[@krazee_aznnn]

Hey, I just discovered this channel!

[@quoridorstrategy]

Nice :) welcome aboard!! How did you discover it ?

[@krazee_aznnn]

@@quoridorstrategy It was served up to me aside an old video I made that I was looking at again. :D

[@quoridorstrategy]

@@krazee_aznnn oh amazing :) an old quoridor fan then I assume! Do you still play online on BGA ?

[@krazee_aznnn]

@@quoridorstrategy Yeah, definitely an old Quoridor fan. I actually have played some other board games on BGA, but I've never played Quoridor on BGA. When I was into it, there weren't all the online resources there are now. I've only played Quoridor in real life. But your channel is the kind of content that I hoped would one day exist since I created my Quoridor tutorial video. Here we are! :D

[@quoridorstrategy]

@@krazee_aznnn I see ! You should definitely try Quoridor on BGA, the level now is pretty high, it makes the game so interesting ☺️🤩

[@dmytropuyda9719]

In X-Black, why is the first horizontal wall a defense for black? 🤔

[@quoridorstrategy]

@@dmytropuyda9719 to avoid commiting too much into the board, otherwise it is a Black Rush if you move forward (which is easier to play for White)

[@dmytropuyda9719]

@@quoridorstrategy Interesting, I need to think about this... Thank you for the quick reply!

[@dmytropuyda9719]

@@quoridorstrategy According to my understanding (it may be wrong), the horizontal wall will help to block b7-e5, am I right?

[@cactuscactus460]

where to play wiith friends?

[@quoridorstrategy]

You can both play for free on Board Games Arena :)

[@cactuscactus460]

Yea but im from lebanon so will see how hard it will be to connect

[@F_15_EX]

I like to make what I call a boat (which it looks like that on the board)

[@quoridorstrategy]

Looks like what ? :)

[@F_15_EX]

@@quoridorstrategy kind of like u shape

[@Kyancerrdd]

Is FPE always only available to the 2nd player?

[@quoridorstrategy]

Yeah those are Black openers mostly

[@nirvanien]

Salut est ce que tu fais aussi des vidéos en français ?

[@quoridorstrategy]

Nan malheureusement, uniquement anglais pour toucher un maximum de monde :)

[@nirvanien]

​@@quoridorstrategymerci 👍

[@quiropracticomadrid]

What’s the point of putting a wall behind you? What is a purpose?

[@quoridorstrategy]

To secure your advancement most of the time

[@jonathanabitbol5333]

Super!!

[@quoridorstrategy]

Merci jojo :D

[@ho6307]

I’ve noticed that a lot of the videos about openers are from blacks perspective? Why is that? I’m very new. Also do you have more content on defending from these openers as the white player?

[@quoridorstrategy]

Hey! Welcome to the game :) I'm so glad to see new players join in! It's true that all the openers I talk about are Black openers, and I think it has to do with the way I see the game in general. I play extremely standard as White, and I simply try to counter everything that my opponent throws at me. In Quoridor, white has a slight advantage because it is the first to move. So in theory, if you play perfect, you win. It is then Black who should create as much chaos and confusion as possible to shift the balance in his favor. In general, experienced White players crush beginners openers because they are so common and they know how to deal with them. However, there are a couple of very deep and complex black openers that are worth playing and no one knows exactly how to deal with them. But White can also create some confusion and chaos. You should really try exotic openers as white if you play against an experienced player. There are some very strong white attacks early in the game. I just did not cover them in dedicated videos yet because I have no experience with them :) however, I do some game replay analysis where I include White aggressive openers sometimes. You should have a look at the playlist 'Quoridor Replays' 😉

[@ho6307]

@@quoridorstrategy thanks so much for the reply. I’ve watched all the videos I think? Lol. Do you have any specific content on counters and why they are effective and when to use what counter in different situations? Are there other quorridor strategy resources out there? Seems very limited but it’s such a great game! Thank you again!

[@quoridorstrategy]

There are not so many resources available on Quoridor online. You have this blog which is a good starting point quoridorstrats.wordpress.com/category/strategy/ but many things can be outdated I think. People really improved since the blog was created. There are not so many 'simple' hard counters to openers. For good openers, most of the time, both players must use 5-6 walls before we can see a solution appearing. It makes it hard to give a simple answer. Anyways, I think the best thing you can do is practice responses to have a good position before turn 15. After turn 15, you have to rely on your end-game skills. I'd advise to have an iterative approach : (1) Do what you think is best (2) See if it works (3) Adjust your assumptions. Use Quoridor Freeboard to simulate outcomes and see where you think it went wrong. You can also use this channel to share your throughts and discuss replay codes with me or other players :) This is what I've been doing for the last year mostly. There are some popular openers I know how to counter quite well, others for which I'm still searching, and testing against master players. I would also advise to join the community 'Quoridor Academy' on BGA. It was founded by ICONX and Janlan. It contains many puzzles to practice the end-game ;) I think we live in an amazing period because nothing has been really theorized around Quoridor. Everyone is 'guessing' how to play well and to counter openers. Some are more successful than others, but there are also A LOT of mistakes at the highest level. Sometimes you think a specific response is a hard counter, and you discover 6 months later that it is absolutely not. I think is what happened for this opener : QSBAQEk6rjQKycrp6/qL0 No one could figure out the solution for a couple of weeks, it was fascinating :)

[@ho6307]

Thank you so much for this! Really appreciate it. I love the theory part and want to understand as much as possible!

[@HarmonieChaotique]

i love you

[@mykytahordia]

interesting video, but incomplete, and the best way to fix it is: 1. pick some opener 2. tried to show different reactions to this opener 3. show how to counter this opener from your enemy without the last two points its really not useful, you don’t know what it is, how to use it and what benefits it gives you

[@quoridorstrategy]

@@mykytahordia yes, it is just an introductory video to give some ideas:) I have longer and more recent videos if you want to deep dive

[@axelmuller4341]

Useless Video.. would be better to do one opener and explain for both sides what to do

[@quoridorstrategy]

Hey :) It's more of an introduction, to invite the viewer to explore those openers. I deep dive in some of those openers in dedicated videos. For instance: -Black Rush : kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHrOo4mHiJuLZ68si=nhCz46keV8rM_pap - Standard Mirror : kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnSaqYuin9SDr80si=UXB4mlR0zDHXO_Bp Hope it will match your expectations

[@wildcard126]

the more i learn about this game, the more i feel like it is just terribly designed. Everything about it is bad. Feels bad to play, feels bad to learn. Oops, I lost because I placed a wall wrong in round 2 and haven't memorized the quintuple reacharound wall placement order technique this guy's using. Not to mention you're overtly punished for MOVING. The game encourages pure passivity and memorization of wall build order. Decided to actually play the game and move forward towards the goal? Too bad, you need to turn around now because the player that chose not to move built walls blocking all but a single terrible path. Maybe I just don't get it. I love games, do my best to give every one a fair shot, but this game is just BAD. Feels so much worse than a game like chess or even checkers. Soooooo much less intuitive. Pure repetition. It hardly feels like a game at all, so little interaction. And the fact that the first few rounds of the game is invariably just both players moving forward is terrible design, and the few variations to this all feel like different levels of cheese. As a beginner in chess or checkers for example it is so easy to intuit strategies and have a fun game between relative beginners. In this game, if one person is even slightly better it's over. Well put together video btw, still gave it a like despite my growing disdain for this game lmao.

[@quoridorstrategy]

@@wildcard126 I think some of what you say is true, but I disagree with other points. For instance, the best players in the world use movements a lot to bait walls from their opponents and win in the late game with extreme precision. It is true that mastering openers is mandatory if you want to play above 500 ELO, but a different game opens up once you know them very well. This is when Quoridor is the most fun :) I think Quoridor is indeed more centered towards game study and some complex regular puzzles/openers than chess. In this regard, I think the AI was also damaging to the beauty of the game

[@wildcard126]

​@@quoridorstrategy honestly your AI comment made me realize, sometimes it feels like two experts (or AI) could basically know what is going to happen/the most optimal path purely based on the very first wall placement, and that feels very uninteractive and static. I guess at the end of the day that is the extreme end of things, but many matches I've watched feel and ARE "over" well before all pieces are played or moves are made which feels strange to me.

[@wildcard126]

Appreciate the reply by the way, my main hope in posting the comment was to engage with people that know more about the game than me, so thank you!

[@quoridorstrategy]

Yes but that is true for any game where the AI beats the human

[@quoridorstrategy]

Quoridor has much more to offer than what you think :) you are being too pessimistic and deterministic!