How to play
- Pick a level and press Start. You play pink; the computer plays blue with a ring.
- Tap a column to drop a disc. It falls to the lowest empty space.
- Get four of your discs in a line, across, up and down, or diagonally, to win.
- Block the computer's lines before it finishes them. A full frame with no line is a draw.
About this game
Line Up Four is a two-player strategy game played against the computer. The frame has seven columns and six rows. Discs drop to the bottom of whichever column you choose, so you can only ever play on top of what is already there.
The computer looks ahead before it moves. On Easy it looks only a little way and sometimes plays loosely. On Normal it plans a few moves deep, and on Hard it reads six moves ahead and rarely misses a threat. On every level it always takes a winning move and always blocks a line of three that you could finish right away.
The centre column is the strongest place to play, because more lines pass through it than through any edge. Good play is about making two threats at once, so the computer can only block one of them, and about not giving it a place to land just below a space it needs.
Who goes first switches every game. Your wins, losses, and draws on each level are saved in this browser.
What this does not measure
This is a game for fun. It is not an IQ test or a test of planning or strategy ability, and losing to the computer says nothing about how your mind works.
Your best score is saved in this browser only.