Connect Four
Drop discs to line up four in a row. Play a friend or a smart minimax AI with easy / medium / hard / expert levels.
Connect Four
Drop discs and be first to line up four — across, down, or diagonally.
Tap a column to drop your disc — it falls to the lowest free slot. First to connect four wins the round; scores carry across rounds until you reset. On desktop use ← → to aim and ↓ / space to drop.
← → aim · 1–7 pick column · ↓/space drop · U undo · R restart Tap a column on the board or the arrows below to drop.
Why you’ll love Connect Four
Instant & free
No signup, no paywall, no limits — Connect Four works the moment the page loads.
Completely private
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is ever uploaded or stored on a server.
Works on any device
Fully responsive and touch-friendly — use it on your phone, tablet or desktop.
Beat your best
High scores and streaks save on your device — and results are shareable.
How to use it
Open it
No download and no login — the tool is ready right at the top of this page.
Use it
Enter your details or start interacting. Everything updates live as you go.
Get your result
Copy, download or share your result in a single tap. That’s it.
About Connect Four
Connect Four went on sale from Milton Bradley in 1974, though the drop-a-disc idea is older — folklore attaches a version called The Captain's Mistress to Captain Cook's voyages. The format has not changed since: a vertical 7×6 grid, gravity pulls each disc to the lowest free slot in its column, and the first player to line up four in a row — horizontally, vertically or diagonally — wins.
It is also one of the most famous solved games. In 1988 James Dow Allen and Victor Allis independently proved that with perfect play the first player wins, but only by opening in the centre column; start anywhere else and a perfect opponent can hold a draw or better. In practice nobody navigates the game's four-and-a-half trillion positions perfectly, so the human fundamentals still decide matches: control the centre, build two threats at once so only one can be blocked, and mind parity — the first player generally wants a winning square on an odd row counting from the bottom, the second player on an even row.
Here you can pass-and-play a friend on one screen or face a genuine minimax engine at four strengths, from an Easy setting that deliberately blunders to an Expert that searches eight plies ahead and never gives a game away. Choose who moves first, take back moves, ask for a hint when stuck, and let the scoreboard keep a running series across rounds.
Popular uses
Frequently asked questions
Yes. In 1988 James Dow Allen and, independently, Victor Allis showed that the first player can force a win by opening in the centre column. Opening in the adjacent columns only draws with perfect play, and anywhere further out actually loses against perfection. The computer here is a strong searcher rather than a perfect solver, so every difficulty can be beaten.
It runs a minimax search: Easy looks 2 plies (half-moves) ahead, Medium 4, Hard 6 and Expert 8. The lower settings also blunder deliberately from time to time so beginners get winnable games; Expert never does. Watch it block open threes and steer toward double threats — it plays the classical shapes you should be learning.
A double threat is two separate squares that would each complete your four. Your opponent can block only one per turn, so the other wins. The usual recipe is a row of three open at both ends at playable heights, or a "7" shape where a horizontal and a diagonal share one square. Most games between decent players are decided by whoever manufactures one first.
Number the rows 1 to 6 from the bottom. As columns fill up late in the game, players are forced to alternate, and the first player tends to end up on odd rows while the second player gets even rows. So a first-player threat waiting on row 3 or 5 is often unstoppable in the endgame, while the second player should aim threats at even rows. It is the closest thing Connect Four has to a secret weapon.
Yes. Undo rewinds the whole exchange — the computer's reply and your own move — so the position comes back to your turn. If the round had just ended, undoing also reverts the scoreboard, which makes it a handy way to study exactly where a lost game slipped away.
Connect Four is 100% free — no signup, no watermarks and no usage limits. It’s one of 200+ free tools we build and give away.
Yes — best scores save in your browser and most games give you a shareable result to challenge friends.
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