A system and method for operating a multiple cylinder internal combustion engine having at least two spark plugs per cylinder include a first control wire coupled to a first spark plug of a first cylinder and a second spark plug of a second cylinder, and a second control wire coupled to a second spark plug of the first cylinder and a first spark plug of the second cylinder with the first and second spark plugs of the first cylinder being selectively fired during the power stroke of the first cylinder and the first and second spark plugs of the second cylinder being selectively fired during the power stroke of the second cylinder to provide individual control of each spark plug using a number of control lines less than the number of spark plugs.