Four in a Row strategy: how to win more games

Four in a Row rules in 30 seconds

PlayTrova's Four in a Row uses the classic upright board with 7 columns and 6 rows. Coral goes first, then yellow, and you take turns dropping one disc into a column. The disc falls to the lowest empty space.

The first player to line up four discs in a row wins: across, up and down, or diagonally. If all 42 spaces fill up with no line of four, the game is a draw. Coral discs have a ring and yellow discs have a star, so you can tell them apart without relying on colour.

Gravity is what makes the game interesting. You can't place a disc anywhere you like, only on top of what is already in a column. That means a winning space high up the board can sit empty for a long time, waiting for someone to fill the space underneath it.

How to win Four in a Row: check three things every turn

Most games, even between adults, are lost to a missed threat rather than a clever trap. Build this habit before every single drop:

1. Can I win right now? Look for three of your discs in a line with a playable fourth space.
2. Do I have to block? If your opponent has three in a line and the fourth space is playable, block it now.
3. Am I about to play under their win? If your opponent needs the space just above where your disc would land, dropping there hands them the game. Pick another column.

The third question is the one beginners forget. A space only becomes playable once the space below it is filled, so every disc you drop also decides what your opponent can reach next turn.

The best first move: the middle column

The middle column is the strongest place on the board. A disc at the bottom of the middle column can be part of seven different lines of four. A disc in a bottom corner can only be part of three. More lines means more ways to build threats, and fewer ways for your opponent to build theirs.

So open in the middle, and keep coming back to the middle three columns throughout the game. Even Clever Cat, the second computer character, greets you with "I always watch the middle column." With perfect play the first player can force a win by starting there, although that winning plan is far too long for anyone to memorise.

Worked example: the bottom-row trap

Here is the first trap every Four in a Row player should know, from both sides. Number the columns 1 to 7 from left to right.

1. Coral drops in column 4, the middle.
2. Yellow drops on top of it, also in column 4.
3. Coral drops in column 3. Coral now has two discs side by side on the bottom row, with empty spaces on both sides.
4. Yellow plays somewhere harmless, such as column 4 again.
5. Coral drops in column 5. Now coral has three in a row along the bottom (columns 3, 4 and 5) and can win in column 2 or column 6.

Yellow can only block one end, so coral wins next turn. Yellow's mistake was move 4. As soon as coral had two discs side by side on an open bottom row, yellow needed to block one side straight away, in column 2 or column 5.

The lesson works all over the board: three in a row with both ends open and playable can't be stopped. Make them whenever you can, and never let your opponent make one.

Four in a Row tips: make two threats at once

Strong players rarely win with a single threat, because a single threat just gets blocked. You win by creating two threats that one disc can't stop. There are two classic ways to do it:

• Side by side. Two different winning spaces that are both playable at the same time, like the bottom-row trap above.
• Stacked. Two winning spaces directly on top of each other in the same column. When the lower one becomes playable, your opponent has to block it, but their disc lets you play the space above, and you win there.

Stacked threats are sneaky because they can sit quietly for many turns. A good way to build one is to grow a diagonal and a horizontal line that both need the same column, one row apart.

The daily puzzles train exactly this skill. Every day there are five new positions, the same for everyone: three "win in 2" and two "win in 3". You play coral and must force four in a row, whatever yellow does, which almost always means finding the move that leaves two threats.

Advanced strategy: odd and even rows

Late in the game, the threats that can't be played yet often decide the winner. Count the rows from the bottom, starting at 1:

• If you went first (coral), threats on odd rows (1, 3 and 5) are the valuable ones.
• If you went second (yellow), threats on even rows (2, 4 and 6) are the valuable ones.

Here's why. Say coral has a winning space on row 3 of a column, and the space below it on row 2 is empty. Nobody wants to drop into that row 2 space: if yellow does, coral wins on top, and if coral does, yellow blocks. So both players fill up the rest of the board instead.

When every other column is full, that last column has to be filled one disc at a time, and the counting works out so that coral's discs land on the odd rows and yellow's on the even rows. Yellow is forced to fill row 2, and coral wins on row 3. Real games are messier, but as a rule of thumb, aim your long-term threats at your own rows, and take your opponent's threats seriously when they sit on theirs.

Common Four in a Row mistakes

• Starting on the edges. Columns 1 and 7 belong to far fewer lines than the middle.
• Dropping a disc right under your opponent's winning space.
• Filling the space under your own winning space, so your opponent can simply block it.
• Only attacking. While you build your line, it's easy to miss their three in a row.
• Forgetting diagonals. They're the hardest lines to see, so check both directions before every move.

Next steps: tougher opponents and Tilt Four

Climb the computer ladder in games vs computer: Rookie Robo makes silly mistakes, Clever Cat knows the basics, Sly Fox punishes slips, and Grandmaster Owl looks about ten moves ahead. You take turns going first, so you practise both the coral and the yellow plan.

Ready for a twist? Tilt Four is PlayTrova's own version on a 7×7 board. Once per game, instead of dropping a disc, each player may tilt the whole board a quarter turn left or right, and every disc falls to the new bottom. A row with gaps can snap into a solid line, so no double threat is safe while your opponent still has their tilt.

Playing with someone else? Choose vs Friend and pass one device back and forth, or send an invite link and play browser to browser. And if you love lining things up, try Five in a Row: no gravity, a bigger board and five to win. Our guide to Gomoku explains the shapes, and the Tic-Tac-Toe guide is a great place for younger players to learn about forks first.

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