It’s around 2pm on a Wednesday, and there’s a ruckus coming from the middle of the meebo offices.
“Back to me, back to me,” Ted yells out. Simon lobs a ball in his direction. “Here comes the kill shot,” Ted exclaims as he fires the ball into a remote corner of Brendan’s square. With a dive, Brendan is able to get a few fingers on the ball. Luckily, a few fingers is all it takes. The ball rockets past Ted, and comes to rest underneath Bob’s desk.
“That’s six, one more for game,” Brendan says, a smile forming on his lips.
All cheesiness aside, the preceding paragraphs pretty well describe the insanity that is meebo four square (four square?). What began as an attempt to re-live our elementary school days has quickly become one of the most intense sports that 215 Castro st. has ever seen. From the high-speed shots, to the drama filled alliances, meebo 4^2 has it all.
Our fascination with the game started back in September when Andrea brought some playground-style rubber balls into the office. After inflating them, we all thought, what next? Having no other equipment, aside from the checker board carpet, someone suggested we try 4^2. We have the ball, we have the squares, so why not? Needless to say, we tried it and we loved it, so we started playing it more and more.
The game we play today is much different than the game we fell into nine months ago. 4^2 2.0 is structured with rankings, and points and strict rules. We’ve banned most of the outright cheap shots and started playing a variant where you have to hit the ball twice as opposed to once. This minor change has increased the excitement level significantly because shots that were previously unattainable can now be returned with relative ease. That diving shot described in the second paragraph does indeed happen and is one of Brendan’s signature moves.
In addition to being ridiculously fun, 4^2 is also a great way to let off some steam. During the development of rooms, the solution to a particularly nasty bug was often just a game away. Many fixes came to us after we stepped away from the code and into the arena.
All in all, 4^2 is crazy fun, highly addictive, and good exercise. We’ve heard that other Valley companies play as well, so we’d like to invite them over for some friendly games. If your company plays, please join us! If your company doesn’t, start playing and then join us! I promise, a good time is only a rubber ball away!
Andreas
[ comments ] [ past blogs ]
June 14th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
cool pictures!
thanks
June 14th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
What the hell is 4^2???
June 15th, 2007 at 12:11 am
nice guys i think…
June 15th, 2007 at 12:56 am
hepi too you
June 15th, 2007 at 2:35 am
Hello Wilhel,
Four square is a ball game played among four players on a square court divided into quadrants. It’s an interesting game.
~ Web Kong
June 15th, 2007 at 3:07 am
hi i like this
June 15th, 2007 at 3:19 am
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June 15th, 2007 at 3:20 am
i have not eny comment
June 15th, 2007 at 4:10 am
???
June 15th, 2007 at 4:43 am
nice pic i think ur cool guys hope you take care
June 15th, 2007 at 5:14 am
WoW…i never thought anyone would play 4^2 the way my friends and i used to do it in high school, using alliances. We used to form alliances of 2-3 people which eventually became named teams, the big three were; “The Juice”(my team), “The Trifecta”, and “TWG (Tall White Guys)”. The Trifecta was run like the mob and let’s just say you didn’t want to go against the family…lol. Good times. Keep it up and keep us posted on any developments taking place on “the squares”.
June 15th, 2007 at 5:27 am
can sum1 giv us more insight into de game..i hav no clue abt 4^2
June 15th, 2007 at 5:28 am
June 15th, 2007 at 5:38 am
Wow, I’m a student at Hillsdale College, and we also found 4^2 to be a great way to unwind. We noticed that the patio in front of the fine arts building had perfectly sized squares to play in, so we got started playing normal 4^2 but it escalated rapidly to “n-square.” Because we had pretty much unlimited space we got up to 16 players at once, in a 4×4 grid.
Don’t worry, you’re not the only ones playing 4^2 out there. Maybe we should start a support group?
June 15th, 2007 at 5:49 am
You are lucky you work with a few handsome asian men, I’m drooling over the guy in jeans and a navy shirt with white and red stripes. woof woof
June 15th, 2007 at 5:55 am
Brings back memories for sure. On the playgrounds of my youth, the server would start off by listing the rules for that particular game. Sometimes it was a long list. “No Cherry Bombs, No Slammies, No Rainbows, No Punch Balls…” the list went on and on.
Sounds like you have instituted the list of rules, and it sounds like you also allow and even mandate “backstops” (the double hitting).
Let us know in this blog if you can find any competitors!
June 15th, 2007 at 6:03 am
join meebo
June 15th, 2007 at 6:20 am
Four-Square in the office?!! Oh I’m so jealous. At another time, I was also blessed with the take-me-back-to-my-youth, do-whatever-makes-me-laugh kind of office space. Ahhh, memories. We had mechanical flying pigs in our space, among a host of other oddities that most outsiders never really understood. Kudos to the great developments, team! I love meebo and can’t wait to see it become the ultimate mecca of the virtual world.
June 15th, 2007 at 6:21 am
vc tem q ver isso !http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHpSCHxb780
June 15th, 2007 at 6:21 am
salam salam
June 15th, 2007 at 6:25 am
We used to play Nine Square in High School (http://whhs.cps-k12.org/). Not quite as elaborate as the 16 players on the 4×4 grid as described earlier. I think that each one of our squares may have been about 10′X10′ and we had to come up with minor changes as well. We played up against a brick wall and we could fire shots into this wall and have them bounce back into another square (hoping not to be your own square) and serve from the center square. There was always a long line to play, but there were ways to get to the front of the line. One way was by retrieving the ball from the roof whenever someone would get too happy with their shot. This was one of my favorite things. I’d watch from a window above this roof area and wait for the ball to find its way up there and I’d jump out of this window (to beat others who would try to scale the brick wall) and usually end up at the front of the line. Good times!
June 15th, 2007 at 6:27 am
GO MEEBO!
June 15th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Cool game. Cant wait to try it out!!!!
June 15th, 2007 at 6:52 am
hello, good pictures!!
and good boy??
June 15th, 2007 at 6:53 am
araidita!!!!!eheheh
June 15th, 2007 at 6:57 am
hola qtal
June 15th, 2007 at 6:58 am
hi love iloveyou nato
June 15th, 2007 at 7:00 am
(U) (U)
June 15th, 2007 at 7:03 am
::::::(:(
:=;(:);(:(
June 15th, 2007 at 7:05 am
–__— You and —_—
June 15th, 2007 at 7:13 am
Muito Linda as fotos….
Gostei !
June 15th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Man you guys seem to really have fun.. and making money.. I almost want to quit my job and have fun too making money.. anyway thanks for sharing
June 15th, 2007 at 7:28 am
Hey, how come Renaud doesn’t have a nickname?
June 15th, 2007 at 7:44 am
cool beans!!!
June 15th, 2007 at 7:47 am
Ola, tudo bem? quem são esses meninos?
June 15th, 2007 at 7:50 am
Andreas is hot!!!!
June 15th, 2007 at 7:53 am
hi frend
June 15th, 2007 at 7:59 am
thats so cool brings back lots of good memories!
June 15th, 2007 at 8:03 am
hi friend l am modestrh i would are here
June 15th, 2007 at 8:08 am
these very good
June 15th, 2007 at 9:01 am
YEA!!! 4^2 is THE best game. I’ve played it for 3 years at recess everyday. You’re right about the game evolving. Ours evolved in a different fashion though. We play doubles which involves extending the single squares (parking spots) out one more. We also only allow one hit per team before the ball hits someone else’s square or another team EXCEPT if the second hit is a header. Furthermore, any disputes are first decided by democracy of everyone playing, but if there are people on both side of the dispute, it is decided by rock paper scissors.
Anyways, 4^2 IS THE GAME!!
June 15th, 2007 at 9:13 am
me me me me me me me me
June 15th, 2007 at 9:16 am
I can’t get meebo to load correctly today, all of the icons and windows are eff-dup. Please knock off the foursome ballslapping and fix your eff-in product!
June 15th, 2007 at 9:45 am
bad boys…
June 15th, 2007 at 9:47 am
what the helk is 4^2
June 15th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Neat-o
June 15th, 2007 at 10:18 am
That’s the coolest thing I’ve heard all week and this has been a pretty good week!
June 15th, 2007 at 10:39 am
[...] oh, that and it seems firefox on my mac can’t successfully unload their site; it hangs if i try to close that tab or quit the application (even when signed out). can we work on that as soon as you’re done with R&R time? [...]
June 15th, 2007 at 10:45 am
aew fala sério jow não entendi porra nenhuma desse lance de bola verde mas até q a pelota fico manera verde aew tipo mó bizzarro mó castelo aew
June 15th, 2007 at 10:52 am
oh man, brings back memories! rock on!!!
June 15th, 2007 at 11:37 am
legal, gostei muito das fotos…
June 15th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
You guys are lucky. If we tried to play games at my office we’d all get a stern talking to. Do you know what I’ve been suggesting for years? Office nap time, or a nap room. So on our lunch break, if we’re feeling burnt out, we can eat a little food, take a little 15 minute nap, and wake refreshed and ready to work! It would increase productivity, I don’t see why companies are more excited about things like play time and nap time. It’s not just for kids, it’s for everyone.
June 15th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
hola como estas
June 15th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
So thats all the ruckus upstairs. At least I know when its 2pm
June 15th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
very good
June 15th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Ok, one of you must be from WA .. I never heard of four square till we moved here and I have to tell you .. My kids have actually drawn a 4 square (board, court .. what ever you would call it) on the floor of my garage with chalk!! It’s their favorite past time!!
Very cool to have fun with it!
Mel
June 15th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
que vacano …..se nota que se divierten !
June 15th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
yah umm i dont get this article help me out!!
June 15th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
adoro este site de bate-papo, continuem trabalhando assim.um abraço
June 15th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
cool pict… & that sound fun… keep me post & any cool
June 15th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Dodgeball man! You gotta play dodgeball!!!
June 15th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
very nice guys, feels like me when I play games and talk on Meebo in my office building! XD
keep doing it!
~Zora
June 15th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
u guys r fit !!!!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Kisses Sent 2 U
June 15th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
haha fun at the office..
doesnt happen often!
June 15th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
haha fun at the office..
doesnt happen often! lol
June 15th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
I think we need to see some video of the action…
June 15th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
I like the setup!
June 15th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Andreas “Booya” Binnewie —– your cute!!! hahahaha!!
June 15th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Heeeeeelooooooooo
anak baru nih
baru mo gabung……… ok
June 15th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
have nice time
June 15th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
that is a fun picture contact me on my email at buffy_angel41@hotmail.com
i will be waitting
June 15th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
what exactly is that again? sorry didnt catch that.
June 16th, 2007 at 12:07 am
wow, i think 4^2 is an awesome game, glad u like it
me and my youth group used to play it every week on the beach, it was difficult but hey we had some fun 
oh and question, why arent there any gals in the pic? 
June 16th, 2007 at 12:47 am
hell guys, do u want the world to know how u ve been enjoyin? i care a damn!!!
June 16th, 2007 at 12:48 am
oi yogesh sup ur a being a boring ‘ol fart
June 16th, 2007 at 3:29 am
my name is AndreA same as your name…
June 16th, 2007 at 4:17 am
June 16th, 2007 at 5:57 am
hello i love the people in meebo ,but i want a very handsome boy and good looking i want to marry him
June 16th, 2007 at 6:09 am
hi,i want to know u more ,if u want to,tell me.thanks
bye
June 16th, 2007 at 6:13 am
Hi (tudo bem ?)tank you.My name is Olga Souza.bay
June 16th, 2007 at 6:17 am
Hello guys i wanna say one love there i’m with you, catch it up bye
June 16th, 2007 at 8:32 am
u guys look funny
June 16th, 2007 at 8:33 am
how many people
June 16th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Try Ultimate Frisbee….now that’s addictive!
4 square is fun…but nothing beats a sunny windless day to have it out on the lawn with two teams that can throw a disc.
June 16th, 2007 at 11:26 am
what the f**k are you on about
June 16th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I’m sure the ladies of the office appreciate the quiet time
June 16th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
hello,how nice!
June 16th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
cool
June 16th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
i don’t know what were supposed to do so email me at my email up there
June 16th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
hi how are you. how many are in the meebo team?
June 16th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Ahojte vsetci ako sa tu mate???
June 16th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
yea lots of memories! Same with ya!
Amber Kingswood
June 16th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
haha funny I quess!
June 16th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
like Kayla Crazy cool!
June 16th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
ya whatever it is not all about you who ever put me me me me me me me me me me me me me
June 16th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
haha funny maybe but I did like it!
Amber Kings
June 16th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Tiffany like your segestin
June 16th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
nice title!Green Rubber Ball!
June 16th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
bee your funny
June 16th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
bee your alsome
June 16th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
kayla you rock
June 16th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
lol
June 17th, 2007 at 2:19 am
hi how are you. how many are in the meebo team,
bee your funny
June 17th, 2007 at 3:21 am
hi i want to join u r group
June 17th, 2007 at 3:37 am
nice picture…is the small guy a filipino? he looks one cool!!!
June 17th, 2007 at 6:18 am
Wow Wow how interesting it is?!!!!!!!!!!
plz keep up doing this.
10q very large
June 17th, 2007 at 7:30 am
hi i love dodgeball how can you hate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!sincerly gabrielle.
June 17th, 2007 at 7:32 am
thats kind of roud amber!!!!!!!!!!!its not about you…….sincerly gabrielle
June 17th, 2007 at 7:33 am
no ladies even like you.
June 17th, 2007 at 7:34 am
June 17th, 2007 at 8:18 am
cool
June 17th, 2007 at 9:15 am
You guys have a great game rising from the ashes. Sounds like alot of fun. It’s almost like ultimate four square, but with a couple of less rules. I would love to lay out the rules to ultimate four square with you in an email or something.
June 17th, 2007 at 10:57 am
whats cool cindy:D
June 17th, 2007 at 10:58 am
i love all you guys…….
June 17th, 2007 at 11:00 am
im sad because i lost my dog………….:SAD
June 17th, 2007 at 11:06 am
woww. :]?
June 17th, 2007 at 11:06 am
wooow !! without words..hahaha
June 17th, 2007 at 11:34 am
wow lol, i remember playing that allllllll the way back in elementary, and i know it was the bombdigity
June 17th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
cool pic!!!!!!!!!!!
June 17th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
4 square was classic. we use 2 play it everyday in 8th grade
June 17th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
i can’t wait until im in 4th grade……….:D
June 17th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
crawl in a hole and die
June 17th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
wow how stupid
June 17th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Why?
Why do you think anyone cares? How does this relate, remotely, to information that might be useful to a customer?
An IT guy came and fixed my printer this week – he didn’t try and subject me to a long monologue about how much he loves playing ping-pong.
June 17th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
oh boy, i remember playing this in elementary school!
great blog :]
June 17th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Cool guys!!! Can you find time to tell me more on that game? Thanks, hope to hear from you soon – yesha
June 17th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
It’s just happy by sharing how funny that game can be ….IT’s so cool to know that. Hope can keep in touch and sharing more
June 17th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
It’s just so happy to know how funny that game can be ….the picture is really cool and all people were enjoying it ….pls share more with us and keep in touch : )
June 17th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
u and ur buddys or so wierd
June 17th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Hi How r u ja . I hope u happy
June 17th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I HATE MEEBO
June 17th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
out* …heheheheheee screw upp
June 17th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
i love meebo and think that its the best idea anyone could of thought of. =) thank you….
Sincerely, CRH
June 17th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I am very pleased with meebo. Thanks (:
-Chee
June 17th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Oh, It’s cool.
June 17th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
hi cool pix
June 17th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
well …its awesome !
June 17th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
I love meebo, but i hate the rooms and the new logged out screen
it was better before, but the classic.meebo.com has to many bugs 
June 18th, 2007 at 1:18 am
i love suhasini
June 18th, 2007 at 1:43 am
very good! nice picturs!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:11 am
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June 18th, 2007 at 5:23 am
i will like to been member of family in window chatting
June 18th, 2007 at 5:27 am
nice i thought that was really great!!!!!!!!!! so what is your name?????????
June 18th, 2007 at 6:04 am
Where is my beloved minimize button for the “Featured Rooms” bar?
June 18th, 2007 at 7:14 am
i love guys and i really love u grils
June 18th, 2007 at 9:47 am
So, I can’t believe you guys play four square! Over the past 2 months, people at my office have been playing four square in a nearby park on lunch break! We’ve improved quite a bit, and are a lot more competetive now. We’ve had kids and a middle aged woman stop by and want to join in! If you’re ever in New York, we must play a match!
Oh, and I enjoy your “4^2″ abbreviation
June 18th, 2007 at 11:15 am
In the summer of 2003, me and Wet Cement studio in Minneapolis played 4 [ ] in an industrial parking lot on our lunch breaks. We got so into it, we added another lunch break at 4. It was definitely affecting our work, but it was okay ‘cos our director was addicted too.
June 18th, 2007 at 11:37 am
keep up the good work, some of ur picture with cat they funny and cute
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:11 am
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July 12th, 2007 at 3:01 am
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A short while ago, a very good friend of mine told me about a great golfing equipment and accessories website that has discounted prices on all their products, same day shipping in most cases and there is no state sales tax, they are paying that.
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July 15th, 2007 at 1:23 am
i hope u enjoy this site also like the meebo.com
http://www.shoppingsegment.com
August 20th, 2007 at 5:30 am
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October 22nd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
[...] area”, we also were able to resurrect our four-square court. 4^2 at meebo has long been a part of our company culture, but when space became a premium we reluctantly had to put desks in our beloved 4^2 [...]
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:50 pm
[...] area”, we also were able to resurrect our four-square court. 4^2 at meebo has long been a part of our company culture, but when space became a premium we reluctantly had to put desks in our beloved 4^2 [...]
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:52 pm
[...] area”, we also were able to resurrect our four-square court. 4^2 at meebo has long been a part of our company culture, but when space became a premium we reluctantly had to put desks in our beloved 4^2 [...]
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Nice game ! Sadly, the company I worked now has a feudalistic and work-oriented culture. It means who you are, what is your position will governs your rights, tasks, conversations styles (what you could share, or what you should not share or talk about it at all), body languages, behaviours, etc. period. We has no daily game exercises. Lunch spare time was used to gossip (for women), smoking or get some rest (for men). We were having “Wednesday Cofee Talks” weekly every Wednesday, where all supervisors and managers meets and discuss work related issues with Office manager as the moderator, but sadly it proves ineffective and later dismissed
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:23 am
je cherche a une èquipe de foot
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:26 am
done moi une chance stp
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
LOVE IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL THINGS THAT NOBODY CAN EVER DENY NO MATTER HOW IT CONCIEVED
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
hola que buena foto a los que estan en la fotos y alos que lean esto los quiero imvitar al maravillo mundo del AMAZONAS es un lugar que uste nunca lo olvidara yo soy un gia de turismo y les ago la invitacion los espero este es mi correo yazomar3@hotmail.com y mi numero celular 3124482322
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:39 pm
i needed a friend my number +233 542 997 074 pliz call
October 25th, 2009 at 9:05 am
I miss playing 4-square. You guys are SO lucky!
October 26th, 2009 at 1:53 am
i love everyome
October 26th, 2009 at 2:05 am
i love the world and things in it
October 26th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Lets see your guys Zen Meditation Room?
October 28th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
toi song o ninh binh toi rat vui vi len meeboo . I like meboo.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
The schoolyard painted over the old four square courts cause no one used em nemore and they were revamping the schoolyard with gardens….which then get trampled because the boys love to the squash lil flowers…kids these days, can’t appreciate what we had to do to keep ourselves occupied
October 29th, 2009 at 3:27 am
you are wery beadifule