Four Across
Drop discs and line up four in a row to outsmart the AI
Ready to play?
Free, instant, no download or account needed.
Play Four Across
About This Game
The classic vertical strategy game. Take turns dropping colored discs into a 7-column, 6-row grid. Your disc falls to the lowest open slot in the column — first player to line up four in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally wins.
You play as red against the AI's gold discs. The AI uses minimax search with alpha-beta pruning and smart move ordering. On Easy it's a casual opponent, while Hard mode searches seven moves deep with center-column preference and threat detection. Watch the drop animation as discs bounce into place, and see the winning four cells glow when the game ends.
How to Play
- Click or tap a column to drop your red disc into it
- Your disc falls to the lowest available row in that column
- Alternate turns with the AI — you're red, AI is gold
- Connect four discs in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally to win
- If the board fills up with no winner, it's a draw
Tips & Strategy
Control the center column — it connects to the most possible four-in-a-rows
Build threats in multiple directions to create two-way traps the AI can't block both
Watch for the AI setting up diagonal wins — they're easy to miss
On lower rows, horizontal threats are strongest; on upper rows, diagonals dominate
Sometimes the best move is blocking the opponent rather than advancing your own position
Features
✓ Classic 7×6 grid gameplay
✓ Disc drop animation with bounce effect
✓ Winning four-in-a-row glow highlight
✓ Hover preview shows where your disc will land
✓ 3 AI difficulty levels (minimax with alpha-beta pruning)
✓ Win tracking across sessions
✓ Responsive canvas — plays on any screen size
Controls
Desktop
Click a column to drop your disc. Hover to preview.
Mobile
Tap a column to drop your disc.
Play Four Across Now
Jump straight into the game — runs in your browser on any device.
Play Now