child playing Connect 4 game
horizontal photo of small preschool boy inserting yellow disks into Connect 4 four game with an expression of concentration DO NOT USE TO ILLUSTRATE NEGATIVE CONCEPTS. Connect Four (also known as Plot Four, Four In A Row, and Four In A Line) is a two-player board game in which the players take turns in dropping discs into a vertical grid with the objective of getting four of one's own discs in a line. The game was published by Milton Bradley in 1974; a non-proprietary version is known as The Captain's Mistress. Beginners will often overlook a simple threat to connect four discs; it is therefore important to always check all vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines before making a move. In more advanced play, one aims at forcing a win by making two threats simultaneously; conversely, one should prevent the opponent from doing so. For instance, in the top right figure, it is green's turn. Yellow will win on their next turn irrespective of green's move because of the threat of extending the diagonal of three consecutive yellow discs to four by dropping a disc either on the third or on the last column, only one of which can be blocked by green. As a general rule of thumb, discs played in the center columns are more valuable than border column discs, because they participate in more potential four-disc lines (and accordingly limit the opponent's opportunities). Among good players, the short term goal is to connect three discs, thereby preventing the opponent from playing in a certain column and creating a "threat" in that column. A player who manages to create two threats immediately on top of each other wins directly. Towards the end, the game then often turns into a complex counting match: both players try to win by forcing the other to play a certain column. In these situations, it is useful to realize that, if it's your move, then after filling an even number of places, it's still your move. Every column has an even number of places. Connect Four has been solved
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