Four in a Row
Mouse and keyboard
- Click anywhere in a column to drop a disc into it.
- The faded disc shows where it will land before you commit.
- Undo takes back your drop and the computer's reply.
Touch
- Tap anywhere in a column to drop into it. The whole column is a target, so there is nothing small to hit.
- Tap New game to start again with the first drop swapped.
This panel
- F full screen
- M sound on or off
- ? this list
- Esc close, or leave full screen
- The clock stops while the board is off screen
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| Board | Played | Won | Drawn | Win rate | Best | Fastest | Best run |
|---|
Awards for Four in a Row
- Four straight Beat the Four in a Row computer on Hard. Needs: on Hard Locked
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About Four in a Row
Seven columns, six rows, four in a row.
Four in a row looks like a children’s game and is not. Seven columns, six rows, and a single rule that makes it deep: you choose a column, but gravity chooses the row. Every disc you drop changes what is reachable for both players, and half the game is about who is forced to fill a square the other one wants.
The winning idea is the three with a gap at each end. Your opponent can block one end; they cannot block both. Almost every game between competent players is a long manoeuvre toward building exactly that shape while denying it, and the reason the centre column matters so much is that more lines pass through it than through any other — a disc there is working on four possible fours at once.
It has been solved: on the standard board the first player wins with perfect play, but only by opening in the centre. Every other first move is a draw at best. That is why New game alternates who drops first, and it is why the centre is worth fighting for from the very first move.
Also searched for as
- 4 in a row
- four in a line
- drop four
- line up four
- four in a row online
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How to play Four in a Row
- Take turns dropping a disc into one of the seven columns. It falls to the lowest empty space in that column — you choose the column, gravity chooses the row.
- Get four of your discs in a line to win: across, down, or on either diagonal.
- Fill all forty-two spaces with no line and the game is a draw.
- Choose Easy, Medium or Hard, or switch to 2 players to pass the device back and forth. New game swaps who drops first.
Strategy that actually helps
- Play the centre column first and fight for it afterwards. More winning lines run through the centre than through any other column, and a disc there contributes to four of them at once.
- Count in threes, not fours. A row of three with an empty space at each end cannot be blocked — whichever end your opponent covers, you take the other. That double-ended three is how nearly every game is actually won.
- Watch the parity of the column you are forcing. If you make a threat that can only be completed on a square your opponent will be forced to fill first, you have given them the win instead.
- Never drop a disc directly under a square that completes your opponent's line. It happens constantly and it is the single most common way a winning position is thrown away.
- Build two threats in different directions from the same disc. A diagonal and a horizontal sharing a piece is a fork, One move that makes two threats at once. Only one of them can be answered. and a fork wins on the spot.
Controls
Mouse and keyboard
- Click anywhere in a column to drop a disc into it.
- The faded disc shows where it will land before you commit.
- Undo takes back your drop and the computer's reply.
Touch
- Tap anywhere in a column to drop into it. The whole column is a target, so there is nothing small to hit.
- Tap New game to start again with the first drop swapped.