Four in a Row

How to play Four in a Row

The board has seven columns and six rows. On your turn you choose a column and drop a disc into it. The disc falls to the lowest empty space in that column, so you can never place a disc in mid-air. Red and yellow take turns until someone lines up four of their own discs in a straight line: horizontally, vertically or along either diagonal. The winning four glow and the rest of the board dims so you can see exactly how the game was won.

If all 42 spaces fill up with no line of four, the game is a draw. The menu at the top chooses your opponent:

• Easy takes a win when it sees one and blocks you some of the time, but otherwise plays loosely with a slight preference for the middle.
• Hard looks five moves ahead, blocks your threats, sets up its own and strongly favours the centre.
• 2 Players lets two people take turns on the same device.

Against the computer you play red. The first move alternates between the two sides after each game. The bar at the top counts red wins, yellow wins and draws for this session. If you pick a column that is already full, nothing is dropped and you can simply choose another.

Controls

Tips and strategy

Control the middle column

The centre column is part of more possible lines of four than any other column, both horizontally and diagonally. Opening there and keeping a healthy share of middle discs gives you the most options later. Discs on the outer edges can only take part in a few lines.

Scan all four directions

Beginners spot vertical and horizontal threats but often miss diagonals. Before every move, check:

• Can I win this turn?
• Does my opponent have three in a line with a playable gap?
• Will my move let my opponent land a disc on top of it that wins?

That last question matters: dropping into a column also opens up the space directly above for your opponent.

Build double threats

The most reliable way to win is to create two ways to finish at once. If you have three in a row with open spaces at both ends, your opponent can only block one. Diagonal and horizontal threats that cross at a shared space are especially hard to defend.

Think about which spaces are ready

A threat only matters when the space beneath it is filled. Try to arrange your threats so that your opponent is forced to fill the space under your winning spot. Late in the game, when few columns remain, counting which player will be forced to play where can decide the result.

Beating the Hard computer

• Do not hand it quick vertical wins; it always takes them.
• Build threats slowly across several rows so they fall outside its lookahead.
• Keep columns under your own threats empty for as long as you can, so the computer runs out of safe moves first.

About Four in a Row

Vertical four-in-a-line games have been popular as family board games for decades, played on an upright frame where coloured counters are dropped in from the top. The idea builds on older games where players try to connect a line of stones on a flat grid, with gravity added as a clever twist: you can only ever play into the lowest open space of a column.

The standard seven-by-six board has been studied carefully by mathematicians and computer scientists, and it is known that the first player can force a win with perfect play, starting in the centre. Finding that path over the board is a very different matter, which is why the game stays fun. This version was designed and coded for PlayNook to run in any modern browser, with its own computer opponent, a drop animation and a two-player mode for sharing one screen.

Frequently asked questions

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