Connect Four > Reviews (61)

Connect Four was my favourite game during my first two years at university. I used to play it a lot during courses (!). I'll explain here how it works, who can play it, if it's good, and finally some tactics.

HOW DOES IT WORK? (If you know this, skip to the next paragraph)
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This game is played with two players. There is a 7*6 frame. Each player drops yellow or red (depending on the colour they've chosen at the beginning) discs in the frame. The first one to make a row of four discs of his own colour wins. You can make a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

FROM A PRACTICAL POINT OF VIEW
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With the frame you get stands in which you have to slide the frame. This way the frame stands vertically. The frame and the stands are very strong, we have the game for over 15 years now, and it still works perfectly. The stands are designed in a way that the frame never tips over. Concerning discs, they’re quite big and they have absolutely no edges, so little children can’t swallow them or hurt themselves. When the game is over, and the frame full of discs, you have to open the frame, and the discs fall out of the frame. At this point you have to be careful, the discs can roll quite far, so you might loose them.

FOR WHO?
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I think it was meant for children. Usually, when children play, it's the one who makes a fault (who doesn't see a row coming) who looses. But it's very amusing for adults as well, because you can use tactics. I'll explain some of the basic tactics later.

WHY IS IT GOOD?
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- The rules are very simple. This is a golden rule for a good game: keep the rules simple.
- It's (almost) impossible to cheat. Except if your opponent is blind or something :)
- I played it over and over, and never bores me. But this is very personal of course.
- It's quite cheap. (Prices vary around 15 euro) In courses we just drew a frame on a piece of paper and played on that. Even cheaper :)

BASIC TACTICS
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Some people think Connect Four is a game of chance. Well, it is only for 10%. Here I'll give you two of the basics tactic, and some more advice. This should help you to make your friends bite the dust :)

1) FINISH THE GAME IN 30 SECONDS
This is a trick you can use against newbies, or distracted people. Newbies always tend to put their discs above yours. What you can do is put your first two discs discs on the base level, with one opening empty between them. Most of the time, the newbie won't see the danger, and he'll put a disc again above yours. Then you put a disc between your first two discs... and the game is over: you can win on both sides, and he can just protect one side at a time.

2) THE DOUBLE ROW
The main tactic in Connect Four is The Double Row. Many people manage to make rows of three. But what you should try to do is to make TWO rows of three, on top of each other. This way your opponent will have to block the first one, but by doing this, he will allow you to complete the top row. Game finished!

3) KEEP IN MIND
The middle column is very important. With this column you can block your opponents horizontal and diagonal rows.

CONCLUSION
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Although people think this is a very simple game, it's not. You can play it on a quite high level. Anyway, it's a game for all ages, and ideal for playing at home, on holiday.. or during courses... :)