Drop discs and line up four before your rival does. Four in a Row is a free 2 player board game you can play on one phone or vs the computer. Drop discs, block your rival and line up four to win.
How to play
Two players take turns dropping a disc into a seven-column, six-row board. The disc falls to the lowest empty space in the column you choose. Be the first to line up four of your discs in a row and you win.
- Tap any column to drop a disc. You don’t need to hit the top: the whole column is your target.
- On a touch screen, press and hold to see a preview disc hovering above the column, slide your finger to a different column if you change your mind, and let go to drop.
- On a computer, move the mouse to preview a column and click to drop. You can also use the left and right arrow keys to move and Space to drop, or press the number keys 1 to 7.
- Both players share the same device, so pass the phone back and forth. Red goes first.
Playing the computer
Open the setup screen and tap the second seat to switch it from Player to CPU. Pick a level before you press Start:
- Easy looks only a move or two ahead and sometimes plays a careless move.
- Normal looks several moves ahead. It will take a win when it sees one and block yours.
- Hard searches deeper still, so it spots traps well before they spring.
The computer pauses for a moment before each move so you can follow what it is doing.
Winning and drawing
Four discs in a straight line win the game, whether that line runs across, up and down, or diagonally. The winning line lights up and the game ends straight away. If every space fills up and nobody has connected four, the game is a draw. Each disc also carries a small shape (circle or square), so the two sides are easy to tell apart even if you struggle with the colours.
Tips
- Take the middle. Discs in the centre column belong to more possible lines than discs at the edge.
- Build two threats at once. A single threat is easy to block. A move that creates two ways to win leaves your rival unable to stop both.
- Watch the diagonals. Most beginners block rows and columns but miss a diagonal creeping up from the corner.
- Think about what you hand over. Dropping a disc may give your rival the space right on top of it.
Why it’s fun
Four in a Row is easy to learn in ten seconds and deep enough to keep surprising you. A round takes only a few minutes, which makes it perfect for a break, a bus ride or a quick rematch with a friend sitting next to you.