Connect Four on 6 high, 7 wide grid, there are 4,531,985,219,092 positions for all game boards populated with 0 to 42 pieces. The game was first solved by James Dow Allen (October 1, 1988), and independently by Victor Allis (October 16, 1988). Allis describes a knowledge-based approach, with nine strategies, as a solution for Connect Four. Allen also describes winning strategies in his analysis of the game. At the time of the initial solutions for Connect Four, brute-force analysis was not deemed feasible given the game's complexity and the computer technology available at the time. Connect Four has since been solved with
Connect Four basketball hoops, and they show up as checkers on the video screen. The game can be played by 2 players, or by 1 player against the computer. Both the player that wins and the player that loses get tickets. Connect Four Connect Four (also known as Captain's Mistress, Four Up, Plot Four, Find Four, Four in a Row, Four in a Line, Drop Four, and Gravitrips (in Soviet Union)) is a two-player connection game in which the players first choose a color and then take turns dropping one colored disc from the top into a seven-column, six-row vertically suspended grid.