Four in a Row is played on a vertical board of 7 columns and 6 rows — 42 cells in total. Red moves first, then players alternate dropping one disc per turn into any column that is not full; gravity stacks it at the bottom. You win by making a straight line of four of your own discs horizontally, vertically or diagonally. If the board fills up with no line of four, the game is a draw. The game is fully solved: the first player wins with perfect play.
Play now — it's freeThe board is a vertical grid of 7 columns and 6 rows — 42 cells. It starts empty.
A move is always a drop: choose one of the 7 columns and your disc falls to the lowest empty cell in that column. Discs stack from the bottom up and never move or get removed.
A column is a legal move until it holds 6 discs; a full column is simply not playable.
The first player to have four of their own discs in a straight line wins. The line can be horizontal (across a row), vertical (up a column), or diagonal (in either diagonal direction).
There are 69 possible four-cell lines on the 7x6 grid: 24 horizontal, 21 vertical and 24 diagonal.
The win is checked immediately after each drop; the game ends the moment a four is complete — discs placed later cannot cancel it.
If all 42 cells are filled and neither side has four in a row, the game is a draw.
There are no other draw conditions: every game ends within at most 42 drops, so stalemates cannot happen.
Open in the middle column. The center column participates in more winning lines than any other, and the game is solved as a first-player win starting from the center.
Play threats: an open three (three of your discs in a line with the fourth cell reachable on your next drop) forces your opponent to respond.
Build double threats: two open threes that share no single blocking cell cannot both be stopped — that is how games are won at every level.
Watch what is above: dropping under an enemy threat can hand your opponent the winning cell, so always check the cell directly on top of your intended drop.
Games are played 1v1 with the standard rules above; red always opens.
Each move allows 30 seconds; if time runs out or a player disconnects, an automated assistant plays a reasonable drop.
Ranked rooms settle rank points after every game: +25 for a win, +5 for a draw, -10 for a loss.
Four in a Row is the classic two-player connection game played on a vertical 7x6 grid. Players take turns dropping discs into columns; gravity stacks them, and the first player to line up four of their own discs horizontally, vertically or diagonally wins.
7 columns by 6 rows — 42 cells. Each column holds up to 6 discs, and there are 69 possible four-in-a-row lines on the grid.
Red always moves first. The first move matters: with perfect play the game is a solved first-player win, and the strongest opening is the middle column.
Get four of your discs in a straight line — horizontal, vertical or diagonal — before your opponent does. The game ends immediately when a four is completed.
If all 42 cells are filled and nobody has four in a row, the game is a draw. Because every move fills one cell, no game can last longer than 42 moves.
Yes. The game was solved independently in 1988: the first player wins with perfect play, and the winning openings start in the middle column. Against imperfect defense, either player can still win, which is what makes it fun.
Yes — play Four in a Row online free at fourinarow.yeeqia.com, straight in your browser with no download or sign-up required.
Yes, the site is mobile-first and runs in any modern browser on Android or iPhone. You tap a column to drop your disc.