How to play Four in a Row

What Four in a Row is

Four in a Row is a two-player game played on an upright grid. Players take turns dropping a disc into one of the columns, and the disc falls to the lowest empty hole. The first player to make a line of four discs of their colour, across, up and down, or diagonally, wins. Because discs stack from the bottom, you can only ever play on top of what is already there, and that simple limit is what makes the game so clever.

Playing Four in a Row on AllFun

In AllFun Four in a Row you can play the computer at four levels: Easy, Medium, Hard and Master. Or choose 2 Players and pass one phone or tablet between you. Play as Gold or Rose, on the Classic 7×6 board or the Big 8×7 one, for one game or a match of first to 3, in which the first move changes hands every game.

To drop a disc, touch above the board and slide: the disc follows your finger. Let go, or simply tap a column, and it falls. On a computer, click a column. The bulb shows the best column when you are stuck, and Undo takes a move back. Play Online finds you an opponent, and Play a friend gives you a room code; online, each move has a 30-second clock.

The rules

• Each player has discs of one colour. Players take turns, one disc per turn.
• A disc dropped into a column falls to the lowest free hole. A full column cannot take any more discs.
• Four of your discs in a straight line, across, up and down, or on either diagonal, win the game at once.
• If the board fills up and nobody has made four, the game is a draw.

That is all. There are no captures and no special moves, but because every disc changes what the other player can do, each turn is a small puzzle.

Six tips that win games

1. Start in the middle. The centre column is part of more possible lines of four than any other. Discs there help you in every direction.
2. Block three at once. If your opponent has three in a line with an open end, drop a disc in the gap before you do anything else.
3. Watch the hole underneath. Before you play, check whether your disc gives your opponent the spot just above it. Sometimes the best move is the one you do not make.
4. Build a double threat. Two different ways to finish four at the same time cannot both be blocked. Most games against strong players are won this way.
5. Stack threats on top of each other. Two of your threats in the same column, one right above the other, often win by themselves.
6. Think in diagonals. They are the lines beginners notice last, and the computer at higher levels uses them well.

A short history

Games of placing pieces to make a line are very old, and the upright version with falling discs became a family favourite in the twentieth century. In 1988 two researchers, working separately, showed with computers that on the standard board of 7 columns and 6 rows the first player can always win with perfect play by starting in the centre column. Perfect play is very hard for people, so real games stay wide open.

Four in a Row FAQ