Drop Four

Setup

• Players: two: you and a bot. You are gold, the bot is blue.
• Board: seven columns and six rows, standing upright.
• Discs: twenty-one each, enough to fill all 42 spaces.
• First drop: you choose who drops first. Alternating is common.

How to play

1. 1Pick a column. On your turn, drop one disc into any column that is not full.
2. 2It falls. The disc lands in the lowest free space of that column. You choose the column, not the height.
3. 3Make four. Four of your discs in a straight line wins, in any direction: across, up and down, or diagonal.
4. 4Stop their three. If the other player has three in a line with a free space to finish it, drop there first.
5. 5Mind the space above. A disc you drop opens the space above it. If that space finishes their four, don’t drop there.
6. 6A full board is a draw. If all 42 spaces are filled and nobody has four in a row, the game is a draw.

Winning

Be the first to line up four of your own discs, across, up and down, or on a diagonal.

Scoring

A line of five or more also wins, as long as it contains four. A game always ends: with 42 spaces and 21 discs each, the board fills if nobody wins.

Key terms

Column:

One of the seven upright lanes. You drop a disc into a column.

Row:

A level across the board. There are six.

Four in a row:

Four of your discs in a straight line. It wins.

Block:

Dropping in the space the other player needs to finish four.

Threat:

Three in a line with a free space that would make four.

Double threat:

Two threats at once. The other player can only stop one.

Diagonal:

A line of discs going up or down one column at a time.