How to play Connect Four

What you need

• The upright grid: 7 columns and 6 rows, 42 holes in all
• 2 legs and the slider bar that holds discs in and releases them
• 21 red discs and 21 yellow discs

The first time you play, an adult should pop the legs and slider bar off the plastic frame and smooth any rough edges. Then slide the bar into the bottom of the grid and push the legs onto the sides.

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Set up the game

1. Stand the grid on a flat table with the slider bar closed so discs stay in.
2. Each player takes all 21 discs of one color.
3. The A5640 rules say the youngest player goes first. After that, many families let the loser of the last game start the next.

Setup takes about ten seconds, which is a big part of the game's charm.

Playing Connect Four

1. Drop one disc. On your turn, drop one of your discs into the slot at the top of any column that is not full. It falls to the lowest empty hole in that column. You cannot choose a floating square.
2. Take turns. Players alternate, one disc each turn. No passing.
3. Win with four in a row. The first player to line up four of their color horizontally, vertically or diagonally wins immediately. Those are the three ways to win shown in the instructions.
4. Full grid. With 21 discs each, the grid holds exactly 42. If it fills with no line of four, nobody wins; treat it as a draw.
5. Reset. The winner slides the bar to the side, all the discs drop out, and you split the colors and play again.

A sample game, move by move

Columns are numbered 1 to 7 from the left. Rows count up from the bottom. Yellow moves first.

1. Yellow, column 4. The center column takes part in more possible lines of four than any other, so it is the classic opening.
2. Red, column 4. Red stacks on top, contesting the center.
3. Yellow, column 3. Two yellows side by side on the bottom row.
4. Red, column 5. Red caps one end of that pair early.
5. Yellow, column 2. Now Yellow has three in a row on the bottom (columns 2, 3, 4) and threatens column 1.
6. Red, column 1. Forced block. Red has no choice.
7. Yellow, column 3. Yellow's disc lands in row 2. Quietly, Yellow now has column 2 row 1 and column 3 row 2, the first two steps of a rising diagonal.
8. Red, column 2. Red lands in row 2, a reasonable building move.
9. Yellow, column 5. Lands in row 2 on top of Red's disc.
10. Red, column 6. Red builds along the bottom: columns 5 and 6.
11. Yellow, column 4. Lands in row 3. The diagonal is now three long: (2,1), (3,2), (4,3). The fourth spot is column 5, row 4. Column 5 is only two discs high, so the spot is not yet reachable.
12. Red, column 5. The blunder. Red's disc lands in row 3, which is exactly the support Yellow needed.
13. Yellow, column 5. Lands in row 4 and completes the diagonal. Yellow wins.

The lesson: before every move, look at the square directly above where your disc will land. If your opponent wins there, play somewhere else.

Scoring a match

A single game has no points: four in a row wins. For an evening of play, keep a match score. These are house conventions, not official rules:

• First to 5 wins. Win = 1 point, draw = 0. Alternate who goes first, since moving first is a real advantage.
• Speed bonus. Score a win as 22 minus the number of discs the winner played. Yellow's win above used 7 yellow discs, so it scores 15. A slow win using 18 discs scores only 4.

Worked example with the speed bonus: Maya wins game one using 7 discs (15 points). Leo wins game two using 12 discs (10 points). Game three is a draw (0 each). After three games Maya leads 15 to 10.

Beginner strategy tips

1. Check two things every turn, in this order. Can I win right now? Can my opponent win on their next move? Only then think about anything else.
2. Play the center. Column 4 can be part of horizontal and diagonal lines in both directions. Discs on the edges take part in far fewer lines.
3. Watch the square above. Never drop a disc that gives your opponent the support they need, like Red's move 12 in the sample.
4. Build open threes. Three in a row with empty, reachable squares at both ends cannot be blocked in one move.
5. Make two threats at once. A double threat only works if both winning squares are reachable right now and your opponent cannot win first. Count the drop height in each column before you celebrate.
6. Stack threats in one column. If you have winning squares directly above each other, your opponent cannot block the lower one without handing you the upper one.
7. Think about who fills last. Late in the game, the parity of empty squares matters. Avoid being the player forced to drop into a column under the other player's winning square.

A habit worth building from the first game: after every drop, trace the four directions out from the disc that just landed, yours or your opponent's. Across, up and down, and both slants. It takes two seconds, and it catches nearly every threat a beginner misses, because new threats almost always pass through the newest disc.

For the theory fans: Connect Four was solved in 1988, independently by James Dow Allen and Victor Allis. With perfect play, the first player wins by starting in the center column.

Common mistakes and rule disputes

• Missing diagonals. Beginners watch rows and columns and lose to diagonals. Scan both diagonal directions after every drop.
• Placing a disc in a floating hole. Impossible in the real game; on paper versions, remember discs fall.
• Does a line of five count? Yes. It contains four in a row.
• Both players complete four at the same time. Impossible: only one disc goes in per turn, so the player who just moved is the one who connects.
• Not noticing a win. If a player drops a winning disc but neither of you notices, the rules give no penalty. Most families rule the game ended at that moment once it is spotted.
• Taking back a move. Not in the rules. Once a disc is dropped, it stays.
• Removing discs. Not in classic drop-only play. Pop-out versions are separate games.

Variants and house rules

Hasbro and others have published other ways to play on special grids. These are separate games, not the A5640 rules:

• Pop Out. On your turn you may either drop a disc or pull one of your own discs out from the bottom row, which drops everything above it.
• Pop 10. Fill the board first, then take turns popping your discs out; set aside discs that were part of a four, and first to 10 wins.
• Five-in-a-Row. A wider grid with prefilled edge columns, where you need five.

House rules for the standard grid (not official):

• Handicap. The stronger player must let the weaker one start, or the stronger player may not open in column 4.
• Speed round. Five seconds per move. Great for older kids and chaotic for adults.
• Teams. Two players per color alternate moves without talking.

Teach it in 5 minutes

This one takes about one minute:

1. "Pick a color. We take turns dropping one disc into any column."
2. "It falls to the bottom. You can't skip spaces."
3. "Get four of your color in a row: across, up and down, or slanted. First one wins."
4. "Every turn, look for my three in a row and block it."

Then play a game where you think out loud: "I'm checking if I can win... no. Checking if you can win... yes, so I block here."

Ages and group size

Six and up per the box, and many four- and five-year-olds can play with help spotting diagonals. It is strictly two players per game. For a group, run a winner-stays-on table, or a round-robin where everyone plays everyone once. Games last a few minutes each, so a full round-robin for four people fits in half an hour.

Check yourself

Questions about this game

Sources and edition notes

Classic Hasbro A5640 drop-only Connect 4, not Pop Out or another variant.

Rules re-checked against the Hasbro A5640 instructions October 2026. The solved-game history comes from published research summarized on Wikipedia. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing. House rules above are labeled and are not part of the official game.

• Hasbro A5640 Connect 4 instructions
• Wikipedia: Connect Four (history, solution and variants)

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