Four in a Row
Play Now

Four in a Row Strategy

Good four in a row strategy (or Connect 4 strategy, or Connect Four strategy, depending on what you call it) turns a game of luck into a game of skill. These guides are in order, from your first winning tips to the ideas experts use.

Play Four in a Row

The guides, from beginner to expert

  1. How to Win: the five habits that win most games.
  2. Best Opening Moves: why the middle column matters so much.
  3. Cheats and Tricks: the traps that catch most players.
  4. Common Mistakes: what’s losing you games.
  5. How to Beat the Computer: a plan for the Hard level.
  6. Odd and Even Threats: the expert secret to the endgame.

The three big ideas

Four in a Row strategy: the orange player has two winning spaces at once, so the opponent can block only one
Two threats at once can’t both be blocked.
  • Own the middle. The centre column is part of more winning lines than any other. That’s why it’s the best opening move.
  • Make two threats at once. One threat gets blocked. Two can’t both be blocked. Our Connect 4 tricks show the patterns that create them.
  • Think about the endgame early. Which row a threat sits on decides who wins when the board fills up. See odd and even threats.

Practise as you learn

Reading helps, but playing makes it stick. Try each idea against the computer: Easy to see it work, Medium to use it under pressure, and Hard to test it properly. When you lose, our free solver shows you exactly where it went wrong.

A practice game against the computer on Medium level
Practise each idea against the computer.

FAQ

Is there a strategy to always win Connect 4?

Only if you go first and play perfectly from the middle column. The game is solved, but perfect play is far too hard to memorise, so good habits matter more.

What’s the single best tip?

Before every move, check whether you can win, then whether your opponent can. Most games are lost by missing one of those.