Why are my bones rotating the wrong way? Seems simple but completely stumped. Watched tutorials, looked for similar questions and would really appreciate any help. I have 3 stacked blocks constrained to fold vertically as shown. The top block stays level. The hinges have to be offset obviously due to the block thickness and hinge points. No matter what I do it tries to fold in the opposite direction using RK since the offset picks the shortest route down as shown in the second pic. The blocks need to first pass over center (go up slightly) to fold the other way.Would really appreciate any help.
Try this:

create the first lower bone, then extrude 3 times, rotate the 4th bone 90 degrees, then ( in edit mode) slightly move the junction point between the second and the third bone in the Y axis, toward the direction you want the chain to bend.
Another way is to check the bone's roll: in the armature tab - display - set to view axes, then trim the bone's roll until the rotation you want is on their x axis with positive values.

You can also add limit rotation costraints to the bones for having them moving only in one direction.