How to Play Connect 4 Online (Rules, Strategy and Winning Moves)

Connect 4 is a two-player game you can learn in thirty seconds and spend years getting good at. You drop coloured discs into a grid, and the first person to line up four wins. Playing it online means you can have a game with someone in another city, or with the computer when nobody else is free. Here's how it works, and how to stop losing.

The rules

• Two players, one grid. The board is 7 columns wide and 6 rows tall. Each player has their own colour.
• Take turns dropping a disc. Pick a column and your disc falls to the lowest empty slot. You can't choose the row, only the column.
• Four in a row wins. Horizontal, vertical and both diagonals all count.
• A full board is a draw. If all 42 slots are filled and nobody has four, nobody wins.
• The opener swaps on a rematch. The player who moved first goes second next time, so nobody keeps the first-move advantage.

Why the first move matters

Connect 4 is a solved game. With perfect play from both sides, the player who goes first wins by starting in the centre column. You won't play perfectly and neither will your opponent, but it tells you something useful: the centre is the strongest place on the board, and going first is worth having.

How to win more often

• Take the centre column early. It sits on more possible lines of four than any other column, so a disc there keeps the most options open. The columns either side of it are next best.
• Build two threats at once. One three-in-a-row gets blocked. Two different ways to finish, on different squares, usually can't both be blocked.
• Think in odd and even rows. The first player tends to want threats on odd rows (1, 3, 5, counting from the bottom), and the second player on even rows. A threat on the right row can sit there until the columns fill up and force your opponent to drop under it.
• Watch the square above a threat. If you drop a disc that lets your opponent drop on top of it and complete a line, you've handed them the win. Check what each move opens up before you make it.
• Check the diagonals before every move. They're easy to miss, and they're where most games are lost.

Playing the computer

The computer opponent plays a sensible game. It takes a win when it sees one, blocks yours when it has to, avoids moves that would let you win on the square above, and prefers the middle columns. What it doesn't do is plan several moves ahead, so it can be beaten by a double threat. Set up two ways to win at once and it can only block one.

How to set it up

To play the computer, create a Connect 4 room and tap Play vs computer. The game starts straight away. To play a friend, tap Invite a friend instead, then send them the four-digit code or the link. They don't need an account and nothing needs installing. Anyone else who joins the room watches live, which makes it easy to run a small tournament where the loser rotates out. If you want something with a bit more luck in it, Ludo is the next step up for two players.