Connect Four is a 2 player board game in which each player tries to be the first to form a 4 token line of their color.
Setup
To play this game, you need:
- The Connect Four board which has 42 slots configured in 6 rows and 7 columns.
Some versions of Connect Four have more spaces and tokens but are still played with the same rules. - 21 yellow tokens.
- 21 red tokens.
- 2 players (Connect Four is played with only 2 players).
Goal of the Game
The objective of the game is for a player to be the first to form a straight line of 4 tokens of their own color.
Gameplay
Before the game starts, the two players have to decide their colors and who will go first.
The first player drops one of their tokens into the column of their choice. This token will fall to the bottom of the column.
The next player then drops one of their tokens into the column of their choice (they can choose any column, even the one with the opponent’s token in it)
The two players take turns dropping their tokens, each trying to form a line of 4 their own color.
A player needs to make sure that their opponent cannot form a line of 4 tokens in any direction, whether horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.
The game continues in this manner until a player manages to form a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line of 4 of their tokens.
Winner of a Connect Four Game
The first player who manages to form a line of 4 of their tokens wins the game.
The game ends in a draw if neither of the 2 players manages to form a line of 4 tokens before the board is filled.
Variations
- Play several rounds. The player who wins the most rounds is the winner.
- Play until the board is full and add up the lines of 4 formed by each player. The player with the most lines of 4 is the winner.
- Change the goal of the game into forming lines of 3 or 5 instead of 4.
- Each turn a player decides whether to drop a token or remove one of their opponent’s tokens from the board.
Official rule
Explore the official rules of Connect Four in pdf
