Play Noughts and Crosses, Four in a Row and Five in a Row against an AI or another player. Four In A Row is an online strategy game of connections, with standard boards and custom game formats.

The aim of the game

Take turns placing pieces. White moves first. Win by connecting the required number of your pieces in an unbroken horizontal, vertical or diagonal line. If the board fills without a winning line, the game is a draw.

Noughts and Crosses (Tic-Tac-Toe)

Noughts and Crosses uses a 3 × 3 board with gravity off. Select any empty square and try to connect three of your pieces. This is the familiar game of Noughts and Crosses, also called Tic-Tac-Toe. Watch for a chance to complete your own line while blocking your opponent.

4 In a Row — Four in a Row

Four in a Row uses a board seven columns wide and six rows high. Gravity pulls pieces down: tap or click a column that is not full and your piece lands in its lowest empty square. Connect four of your pieces to win.

5 In a Row — Five in a Row

Five in a Row uses a 10 × 10 board with gravity off. You can place your piece in any empty square. Make an unbroken line of five pieces horizontally, vertically or diagonally to win.

Play against an AI or a local opponent

Choose your opponent above the board, then press Start Game. You can play against an AI or take turns with another person on the same device. When you have trained your AI to higher levels, you can choose from the AI levels you have unlocked.

Play online

Log in and press Play Online, which is also available below the board on a phone. All your unlocked formats automatically start seeking; select No beside any format you do not want. When another player seeks the same format, you are paired automatically. The first player to seek plays White. Each online move has a 25-second time limit, with a countdown during the final 10 seconds.

AI Levels

Discover the strategies at each AI level, how learning is shared with lower levels, and how to improve your AI through play and training.

Train your AI

Your AI improves by playing games against you or itself. Use AI Training to watch it practise, adjust the speed and stop training when you wish. Training uses one credit per game.

AI versus AI

Train AIs at different levels, then let them do battle against each other. Choose an AI for both White and Black, select their levels and press Start Game to watch two AIs play Noughts and Crosses (Tic-Tac-Toe), Four in a Row, Five in a Row or a custom format. Watch them play, learn and improve—and see how stronger training changes their strategy.

It recalls the famous ending of the 1983 film WarGames, in which the WOPR computer repeatedly plays Tic-Tac-Toe against itself and learns that a perfectly played game cannot be won. Four In A Row lets you explore that idea by setting your own trained AIs against one another.

More Games

Select More Games to unlock more game formats. There are 1,600 different game formats available. Custom games let you choose the board width, height, winning target and gravity: Off, Down, Left, Up, Right, Clockwise, Anticlockwise or Random.

Play with Gravity

Choose gravity Up, Down, Left, Right, Clockwise, Anticlockwise or Random, or turn gravity Off. Learn how pieces slide, how both players share each direction, and how Random changes direction without repeating at cycle boundaries.

Skills You Can Practise

Explore pattern recognition, anticipating moves, strategic thinking and reading an opponent, with practical challenges to try during play.

Trophies

Learn how trophies are earned and combined across every Four In A Row game format.

Trophy Road

Follow your trophy milestones and earn 50 bonus credits whenever you reach or pass a new milestone.

League Table

Choose an unlocked game format and compare skill ratings in its Four In A Row league table.

Skill Rating

Understand starting ratings, rating calculations, draws and beginner-AI limits in Four In A Row.

Large Numbers

Explore the number names and powers of ten used to describe how many possible games your AI can play.

How to Support This Game

If you enjoy playing this game, please support it by buying credits.

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