NEW GAMEReversiStrategy·Free to play
Connect Four
Drop discs into a seven-column board and make a line of four before your opponent.
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Connect FourTap a column / 1–7: drop a disc · Opponent selector: computer or same-device two players · Level selector: easy, normal or hard computer · Undo: take back your last move
How to play Connect Four
Choose your opponent and level
Play the computer at Easy, Normal or Hard, or select two players to share the device. Red takes the first turn. Hover a column to preview where your disc lands.
Drop into a column
Select one of seven columns. Your disc falls into the lowest empty space; a full column cannot accept another disc.
Connect four
A horizontal, vertical or diagonal line of four wins immediately. If the board fills without a line, the game is a draw.
Connect Four controls
- Tap a column / 1–7
- Drop a disc
- Opponent selector
- Computer or same-device two players
- Level selector
- Easy, Normal or Hard computer
- Undo
- Take back your last move
This Connect Four game is built for Free Games. Read about controls and local storage.
Choose a related challenge
Check whether a threat has support beneath it before relying on it. In Tic-Tac-Toe, any empty square is available, making it easier to isolate the idea of a fork.
What Connect Four is like to play
Connect Four is Tic-Tac-Toe with gravity, and gravity changes everything. The board stands upright with seven columns and six rows. You do not choose a square, you choose a column, and your disc falls to the lowest free space in it. Four of your discs in a line, horizontal, vertical or diagonal, wins on the spot.
Because you cannot pick the height, every move you make also builds a platform for your opponent. Dropping a disc into a column hands them the square directly above it. Half of good play is refusing to hand over the square that completes their four. The other half is building two threats that sit on playable squares at once, since only one can be blocked. The Connect Four strategy guide works through both ideas with examples.
Play the computer or select 2 players and share the device. Red always moves first. The computer looks several moves ahead and scores the resulting positions, so it will spot your open three and take an easy win of its own, but it is beatable with a plan. If the seven columns feel large, the nine squares of Tic-Tac-Toe teach the same threat arithmetic on a smaller stage.
Connect Four at a glance
| Genre | Board Strategy Games |
|---|---|
| Challenge | Easy rules, real depth in the threats |
| Pace | Three to six minutes a game |
| Original era | 1974, published by Milton Bradley |
| Players | Two players on one device, or against the computer |
| Controls | Tap a column / 1–7, Opponent selector, Level selector, Undo |
| Cost | Free, with no account and no download |
Where Connect Four came from
The upright four-in-a-row game was sold by Milton Bradley in 1974 under the name Connect Four, and it became one of the most widely owned family games of the following decade. Earlier four-in-a-row games existed on paper and on flat boards, and Milton Bradley's contribution was the standing yellow frame with a slide at the bottom that dropped every disc out at once.
The game has a second life in computer science. In 1988 James Dow Allen and Victor Allis independently solved it, and Allis published the proof in his master's thesis. The result is exact: with perfect play by both sides, the first player wins by moving in the centre column and can force the win on the 41st move at the latest. Any other first move gives the second player at least a draw.
That solution is why the centre column matters so much. It takes part in more possible lines of four than any other column on the board. More two-player boards of this kind are gathered in the board game strategy guide.
Ways people play Connect Four
- Pop Out
- On your turn you may remove one of your own discs from the bottom of a column instead of dropping a new one. Everything above it slides down, which can break your opponent's line or accidentally complete it.
- Five-in-a-row on a wider board
- Some editions stretch the frame and require five in a line. The extra length makes single threats far weaker, so almost every win comes from a double threat.
- Power up discs
- Later commercial sets added special discs, such as one that bores through a disc below it or one that blocks a square for both players. Each one is used once per game and changes the shape of a threat.
- Paper four-in-a-row
- Played on graph paper with no gravity at all: mark any empty square you like. It is a different game entirely, and much closer to gomoku than to the upright classic.
Connect Four questions and answers
How big is the board?
Seven columns wide and six rows deep, so 42 spaces in total. A column stops accepting discs once six have landed in it, and the game is a draw if all 42 spaces fill without anyone making a line of four.
Who goes first?
Red moves first, and in two-player mode that is whoever takes the first turn. Moving first is a genuine advantage: the game has been solved, and the first player wins with perfect play by starting in the centre column.
Does the computer cheat?
No. It sees exactly the board you see and follows the same rules. It searches a few moves ahead and scores the positions it finds, which is why it never misses your open three. Beat it by preparing two threats before either is obvious.
Why is the centre column so important?
A disc in the centre column can be part of more winning lines than a disc anywhere else, because lines run through it in every direction. Giving up the centre early usually means fighting the rest of the game short of options.
What is an odd or even threat?
It is counting which row your winning square sits in. Because players alternate and discs stack, a threat on an odd-numbered row tends to fall to the first player and one on an even row to the second. Experienced players plan around that parity.
Can I play against a friend on the same phone?
Yes. Choose 2 players in the opponent selector and pass the device between turns. The board is tappable by column, and the keys 1 to 7 do the same job on a keyboard.
Can a diagonal line of four win?
Yes, in both directions, and diagonals are the most commonly missed win in the game. Scan the two diagonals through any square you are about to fill before you commit to a column.
If you like Connect Four, try these next
Four games from the same shelf, each with its own pace. The one-line summaries are how their own pages describe them.
| Game | What it is like | Pace | Play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reversi | Outflank opposing discs and finish with the most discs on an eight-by-eight board. | Around ten minutes a game | Play |
| Tic-Tac-Toe | Make a line of three against the computer or a friend on the same device. | Under a minute per game | Play |
| Chess Clock | Time a game on your own chessboard with two configurable countdown clocks. | Whatever you set, from 1 to 180 minutes | Play |
Connect Four: make your threats playable.
Read gravity, block immediate wins and make use of the center.
