How to play Connect 4
Connect 4 (also called Four in a Row or Captain's Mistress) is a two player game on a grid of 7 columns and 6 rows. The rules take a minute to learn. Mastering the strategy takes a lot longer.
The rules in 60 seconds
Pick a column
On your turn, drop one token into any of the seven columns. Gravity pulls it to the lowest open slot.
Take turns
Players alternate, one token per turn, no skipping. Red always plays red, blue always plays blue.
Connect four to win
Line up four of your tokens in a row: across, up and down, or diagonally. First to four wins on the spot.
Full board is a draw
If every slot fills and nobody has four in a row, the game ends in a draw. Online, a rematch is one click away.
Who goes first, full columns, five in a row, and every other rule question: the complete rules.
Five ideas that win games
Take the centre column
More winning lines run through it than any other. Open there.
Build double threats
One threat gets blocked. Two at once cannot be.
Watch the diagonals
Most beginner losses are a diagonal nobody noticed.
Think in odd and even rows
First player wants threats on odd rows, second on even.
Don't hand over the winning square
Check what sits above the slot you are about to fill.
Variant: Pop Out
Pop Out adds one rule that changes everything: on your turn you can drop a disc as usual — or pop one of your own discs out of the bottom row, sliding that whole column down one space. A pop can complete a line anywhere in the shifted column, so no position is ever truly safe. Careful, though: pop carelessly and the discs that slide down can hand your opponent their four — if your pop completes a line for them (and not for you), they win. Pop Out has its own ELO ladder, separate from Classic.
Play Pop OutIs Connect 4 solved?
Yes. Connect 4 was solved in 1988, independently by James Dow Allen and Victor Allis. With perfect play from both sides, the first player always wins by starting in the centre column, needing at most 41 moves. Humans don't play perfectly, though, which is what makes ranked games fun.
Ready to try it?
Practice against the computer, then take your strategy online.