A Game That's More Than a Game at a School That's Not a School

by Joshua Wachtel

North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens is not your typical school. In fact, as Director Ken Danford insists to anyone who begs to differ, "It's not a school!!"

Think of it more like a teen center or a youth afterschool program, but one that's open during normal daytime school hours. 11- to 19-year olds -- 30 to 40 any given day, with a total membership of about 65 -- come to take classes, meet with tutors and advisors, and do other learning activities one might find in a typical school setting. But kids are also to be found on phones and computers, building things in the maker room, playing games, running around outside, and generally coming and going on their own schedules.

North Star's motto is: "Learning is natural. School is optional." Staff operate on the premise that, "We make possible, but we don't 'make sure'." Suffice it to say, North Star kids have a lot of freedom!

I have been a teacher and advisor at North Star for 15 years. I decided very soon after I learned about the game of Quaternity last year to launch a small personal project: first to make a 12x12 Quaternity board from laminated construction paper; to acquire four sets of chess pieces -- black, white, red and green; and finally to learn the rules of the game, hoping some North Star kids might want to play with me!

My first stroke of luck came in the form of my young colleague, Ben Marien, a political science student at neighboring University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where for several years he has served alongside me at North Star as a work-study volunteer. Ben is a good chess player, a member of the UMass Chess Club, and from the first moment he saw the board and the pieces, he decided to learn the rules with me and recruit kids to play.

Within a few weeks of the start of the year, I had my board. I had Ben. And I had a rule book plus a lifeline to Javier Romano, who is author of ten books on all things Quaternity and a very patient friend! Javier answered all my texts, sometimes in real time, so we could always resolve our rule questions fairly.

What worked this year was for Ben and me to play Quaternity in North Star's Common Room. We played on a centrally-located table in the midst of a relaxed atmosphere, surrounded by other tables, some staff desks, and comfy chairs and couches around the outside of the room. Every Thursday at 11am from September 2025 to May 2026, we set up the board and would see who wanted to play!

Throughout the course of the year Ben and I managed to drum up participation for a game nearly every week. We managed to teach Quaternity according to the International Rules to about a dozen students. From our experience, I would like to share a few very general and personal observations:

First, Quaternity is fun! Ben and I looked forward to the game week after week. Kids wanted to learn and play. Some were thwarted from playing more due only to prior commitments. Others loved standing around and watching. And Director Ken Danford loved telling prospective students, families, and anyone else who showed any interest in the center about the "crazy four-person Quaternity chess game where you play out of the corners."

Second, no Quaternity game is quite like another. Sometimes someone jumped out on the attack quick and paid the price. Other times people hung back to see how things would develop. Sometimes Ben would get aggressive and dominate with his superior chess knowledge. He eventually, more often than not, sat out and coached kids to make the games more evenly competitive. Yet later in the year when he joined in more games, some players successfully challenged him.

Third, the game builds community. It definitely brought me and Ben closer together as teachers as we strategized week to week how we could set things up for a successful game. This community building feature was also clear as we taught more and more kids at North Star the rules and had a larger and larger circle of players to draw from any given week.

Finally, the game has shown us how much we still have to learn! We saw in ourselves and among students that we were all developing theories of play. Quaternity allowed us to put our theories into practice, see what happened, and adapt again for next time.

Ben and I have scheduled Quaternity as a class for the 2026-2027 North Star year. We are looking forwarding to welcoming more players and growing our Quaternity community. In the meantime, we want to share with you a short video that features some shots of Ben and me playing Quaternity with North Star kids. This video was made by UMass-Amherst to commemorate an award they gave Ben for his wonderful service to the North Star Community.