The Rotating Blocks are an alternate to the Mini Swiss in a Quad tournament in the event that the total number of players is even but not a multiple of 4. (In the case of an odd number of players for a given round, the TD will play.) Therefore, the Rotating Blocks will always have 6 players.

This method was invented by Travis Olson, and inspired by the Block Transition Tournament by Tony Berard. It works as follows:

1 Players are ranked 1-6, 1 being the highest-rated player.

2 Initial colors are determined by a coin flip.

Example of how to conduct a coin flip: A random player is asked what color he/she would like to start with, then is asked to call heads or tails on a flipped coin. If he/she is correct, that player gets the color they chose in the first round.

3 The pairings are decided based on the diagram below vvv. Arrows either point to the black player, or the white player, as determined by the coin flip and applied consistently throughout the tournament. 

4 For the purpose of determining "winners" of the block (or quad), players compete against the other two players in their block, and NOT against the three players in the other block.

This accomplishes a few things:

1 Pairings for this group of 6 players for all rounds are determined at the beginning of the tournament, like the other quads.

2 Players will play players closer to their rating, in the spirit of a quad tournament.

3 Players will compete on even grounds relative to the other players, and there will not be a great difference in "strength of schedule" among the players. (In a traditional Swiss or Mini Swiss, a player may accumulate more points against weaker opposition than another player who faced stronger opposition but scored lower. This effect is minimized in the Rotating Blocks.)