Play Four in a Row Online Free — Solo or With Friends

How to Play

1. Choose to face the computer, share one screen with a friend, or open an online room.
2. The violet player (with the ring marker) drops first. Tap anywhere on a column to let a disc fall.
3. The disc slides down to the lowest empty hole in that column. You cannot place it in mid-air.
4. The amber player (with the square marker) answers, and turns keep alternating.
5. Four discs of yours touching in a line — sideways, upright or slanted — wins immediately and the line lights up.
6. On a keyboard, press 1 to 7 to drop into a column, or use the left and right arrows and then Enter.

Rules

The grid stands upright with seven columns and six rows, so it holds forty-two discs in total. Each turn you must drop exactly one disc into a column that still has space. Gravity decides the row, so the only real choice is which column to use. A column that is full is closed for the rest of the game.

The winner is the first player to line up four discs of their own horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Lines longer than four also count. If all forty-two holes fill up with no such line, the game ends in a draw. Passing is never allowed, and a disc can never be moved once it has landed.

Tips & Strategy

• Own the middle column. The centre column is part of more winning lines than any other, so discs there do the most work.
• Look below every empty hole. A threat only matters when the hole underneath it is filled. Before you drop, ask whether your disc gives your rival a platform to finish their line one row higher.
• Think in odd and even rows. Counting from the bottom, the first player usually wins with threats on odd rows (1, 3, 5) and the second player with threats on even rows. Build threats that match your seat, and late in the game the forced moves will hand you the win.
• Make two threats at once. A single open three can be blocked. Two threats in different columns, or two stacked on top of each other, cannot both be stopped.
• Do not fill a column carelessly. Sometimes the safest move is in a side column that has no effect on any line. Keeping a harmless move in reserve lets you wait for your opponent to make the mistake.

Game Modes

Play vs Computer comes in three strengths. Easy often drops discs without much thought, which makes it a friendly first opponent for children. Medium looks a few moves ahead and almost never misses a block. Hard searches six moves deep and punishes loose play, so plan your traps well in advance.

Play with Friend puts both players on one phone, tablet or laptop. The banner above the grid shows whose turn it is, so you can simply hand the device across the table after each drop.

Play Online is for a friend who is somewhere else.

Play with Friends Online

Pick Play Online and make a new room. The site gives you a short code and a shareable link — drop it into any chat app and wait for your friend to tap it. They land in the same lobby in their own browser without installing anything. Once you can see each other in the lobby, the room creator starts the match. Every disc falls on both screens at the same moment, and if someone's connection blinks, reopening the link puts them back into the running game.