Strategy
4 in a Row Strategy & Tips
A practical strategy guide for 4 in a Row: take the centre, scan for threes every move, build double threats, watch the square above a threat, and use board parity.
Play 4 in a RowThe core idea
Two threats beat one block
Almost every strong 4 in a Row habit points at the same goal: reach a position where you have two ways to make four and your opponent can only stop one of them. Centre control, threat-spotting, and parity are all in service of that single moment.
- 01
Open in the centre column
Every horizontal and every diagonal line of four has to pass through one of the middle three columns, and the exact centre sits on more potential lines than any other cell. Take it with your first disc and keep contesting it.
- 02
Scan for three before every move
Before you drop, look across every row, column, and diagonal for a run of three — yours to complete, theirs to block. Missing a single open three is how most games are lost in one move.
- 03
Build a double threat
The winning idea in 4 in a Row is one move that makes two separate winning squares. Your opponent can block only one per turn. These often appear where a horizontal line and a diagonal line share a cell.
- 04
Mind the square above a threat
If you fill the cell directly below an empty winning square, your opponent drops on top and wins. Unless it is forced, avoid playing a column when the cell above becomes a win for them.
- 05
Think in parity
On the 7×6 board, threats completed on odd rows (counting from the bottom: 1, 3, 5) tend to favour the first player, and even-row threats the second. Aim your lines at the rows that suit your side and deny your opponent theirs.
- 06
Do not feed a dead line
Once a line is blocked at both relevant points, adding discs to it just wastes turns. Keep two or three potential lines alive and pivot between them as the board changes.
- 07
Use undo to study the computer
Against the computer, try a plan, watch how it responds, and take the move back if the position got worse. Undo is unlimited and it is the fastest way to learn what the Hard opponent punishes.
By computer level
How the approach shifts
The habits above apply against any opponent. What changes is how much a loose move costs you — see the opponents section of the guide.
On Easy
The opponent grabs obvious wins and blocks obvious losses but is otherwise loose. Use it to rehearse spotting threes and setting up double threats without much pushback.
On Medium
It looks a few moves ahead and rarely walks into a simple trap. You need a real plan — usually a forced sequence that ends in two threats it cannot both cover.
On Hard
It searches several moves deep, fights for the centre, and will not hand you a win. Expect to lose while your openings tighten up. Winning as second player is genuinely hard.
Ready to put it into practice? Read the full how-to-play guide or jump straight in.
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