Drop discs into a 7x6 grid and race to line up four in a row against a sharp CPU or a friend.
About Four in a Row
Four in a Row is the classic vertical strategy duel reimagined with a glowing arcade board and chunky, gravity-dropped discs. Take turns dropping pieces into seven columns and be the first to align four of your color horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Play a friend in local 2-Player, warm up against the forgiving Easy computer, or test yourself against Hard, which runs an alpha-beta minimax search with threat detection to punish loose play. Every win lights up the connecting four and your record against the machine is kept between sessions.
Where Four in a Row comes from
Connect Four was designed by Howard Wexler with Ned Strongin and first sold under that name by Milton Bradley in February 1974; the trademark now belongs to Hasbro. The seven-column, six-row game was solved in October 1988 by James Dow Allen and, independently, Victor Allis: with perfect play the first player can always force a win by starting in the centre column. This version is 360 PlayZone's own browser take on the four-in-a-row concept and is not the licensed product. Source.
Inside Four in a Row: what we checked
The numbers below come from Four in a Row's own source code, and the screenshots are from our own test run of the game (20 October 2026).
- The board is 7 columns by 6 rows. You play yellow and always drop first, against the computer or a friend in 2-Player.
- CPU Easy takes a win whenever it sees one and blocks your winning move about 85% of the time. Otherwise it avoids moves that would hand you an immediate win, and picks a column at random with a lean towards the middle.
- CPU Hard always takes a win or blocks yours when it sees one. Otherwise it searches up to 8 moves ahead, but is capped at about a fifth of a second per move, so it may look less far on a slow device.
- Hard scores boards by counting open windows of four and gives a bonus to discs in the centre column, so it tends to build there.
- Arrow keys or A and D move the column cursor, and Down, S, Enter or Space drops the disc. R starts a new game and T cycles Easy, Hard and 2-Player.
- Your wins, losses and draws, and the mode you chose, are kept in this browser.
Unblocked Chromebook No Download Mobile Multiplayer
How to play Four in a Row
Pick a mode, then choose a column and drop your disc; it falls to the lowest open slot. Get four of your color in a line - across, down, or diagonally - before your opponent does. If the board fills with no four-in-a-row, the round is a draw.
Controls
Mouse/touch: hover or tap a column to drop a disc (a preview disc shows at the top). Keyboard: Left/Right or A/D pick a column, Down/Enter/Space drops, R starts a new game, T cycles the mode, M toggles mute.
Tips & tricks
- Claim the center column early - it touches the most possible winning lines, so it is the strongest opening real estate.
- Watch for 'double threats': set up two ways to win at once and your opponent can only block one of them.
- Always scan your opponent's pieces before you drop - blocking their three-in-a-row is often more urgent than building your own.
- Think about what your move stacks on top of; dropping a disc may hand your rival the winning square right above it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Four in a Row unblocked at school or work?
Four in a Row needs no plugin or installer, so a school or work laptop opens it like any other page — if it will not load, your network's filter is blocking the site, not the game.
Embed Four in a Row
From our blog
Four in a Row features in How to Play Battleship: Rules, Ship Sizes and the Hunt-and-Target Method and Best 2-Player Games to Play With a Friend on One Screen.