How to Play Connect Four: Rules and Winning Strategy
Connect Four is a two-player game played on a vertical grid of 7 columns and 6 rows. Players take turns dropping a disc into a column, and the disc falls to the lowest empty spot. The first player to get four of their discs in a row, horizontally, vertically or diagonally, wins. If the board fills up with no four in a row, the game is a draw.
The rules
- Players alternate turns. Each turn, you drop exactly one disc.
- Discs always fall to the bottom of the chosen column. You cannot place a disc in the air.
- A full column can't be played.
- Four in a row in any direction wins immediately.
Winning strategy
- Play the center. The middle column is part of more possible lines of four than any other column. Starting there is the strongest first move.
- Build double threats. The winning trick is to create two places where you could complete four at once. Your opponent can only block one.
- Watch the square underneath. If your opponent has a threat waiting on a square, don't fill the square right below it, or you'll give them the winning spot.
- Block early. Three of their discs in a row with an open end must be blocked right away.
- Think in rows. Advanced players notice that the first player benefits from threats on odd rows (counting from the bottom), and the second player from threats on even rows.
A bit of history
Connect Four was first sold by Milton Bradley in 1974 and quickly became a classic family game. In 1988 it was "solved" by computer researchers, who proved that the first player can always win with perfect play by starting in the center column. In real games nobody plays perfectly, so the second player wins plenty of games too.
Playing Connect Four on Royal Duels
Tap any column to drop your disc. Practice against the Easy, Medium or Hard bot (the Hard bot looks several moves ahead), or challenge a friend with a link. Each win earns points for the weekly ranking.
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