Connect Four · Complete guide
Connect Four: how to play, and how to actually win
Drop a disc, make four in a row. Solved twice in the same month of 1988 — and the first player wins, but only from the centre.
Connect Four is played on a grid seven columns wide and six deep, standing upright. You choose a column; gravity chooses the row. Four of your discs in a line — across, up, or diagonally — wins.
That gravity rule is the whole game. You cannot play where you like, only on top of what is already there, which means every move you make hands your opponent the square above it. Half of all casual losses are self-inflicted: filling the square beneath a winning space.
The board is not symmetric either. The centre column takes part in far more possible lines of four than the edges, which is why perfect play begins there — and why opening next to the centre actually loses with perfect play.
The deepest idea is parity. Because the board fills in a fixed way, threats on odd rows favour the first player and threats on even rows favour the second. A single unanswerable threat on your own parity wins the endgame by itself, without any tactics at all. That is what separates players who win consistently from players who win sometimes.
How to play
The complete rules of Connect Four: the 7×6 grid, how gravity decides where your disc lands, what counts as four in a row, draws, and the variants — plus why the centre column is worth more than any other.
Where it comes from
The Captain's Mistress legend, Milton Bradley's 1974 design, and the month in 1988 when two people solved the game independently — proving the first player wins by starting in the centre.
- Four-in-a-row games are old folk games; the Captain's Mistress story is legend, not evidence.
- Milton Bradley published the modern 7×6 Connect Four in 1974.
- The game was solved twice independently in October 1988, by James Dow Allen and Victor Allis.
- The first player wins — but only by opening in the centre column.
How to win
The centre column, double threats, and the odd–even parity rule that turns a single threat into a guaranteed win — plus what the solved openings mean for practical play.
- The centre column belongs to roughly twice as many winning lines as an edge column — open there.
- A win comes from two threats at once; a single threat can always be blocked.
- Never fill the square directly below a square your opponent needs.
- Parity decides endgames: the first player wants threats on odd rows, the second on even rows.
Common questions
Does the first player always win?
With perfect play, yes — but only by starting in the centre column. Opening next to the centre loses, and the outer columns draw.
What is the best first move?
The centre column, which belongs to roughly twice as many winning lines as an edge column.
How do you win at Connect Four?
By creating two winning squares at once — a double threat — which a single block cannot cover. Stacked threats in one column work the same way.
What is the odd-even rule?
Because the first player takes odd-numbered squares as columns fill, threats on odd rows favour them and threats on even rows favour the second player.
When was Connect Four solved?
October 1988, independently by James Dow Allen and Victor Allis. Allis's thesis explained the strategic rules behind the proof.
Guides
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