Joe Louis connects four
“Connect Four is a two player game, which is also known under the names Fourplay, Four in a Row, Four in a Line or Captain’s Mistress. Under the Connect Four trademark by Milton Bradley the game was first published in February 1974. It was designed by Howard Wexler and Ned Strongin one year before its release.
The rules are quite simple, which is a reason for the popularity of this game. At first each player chooses a color, commonly these are yellow or red, and receives a small amount of discs in this color. The game is played with a seven-column and six-row grid, which is arranged upright. The number of columns may be changed from six to ten, creating a greater variety of the game, but the number of rows is usually seven. Alternately each player puts a disc in one row. The disc falls down straight and will only be stopped by another piece. The aim is to be the first of the two players to connect four discs of the same color vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Connecting five or six instead of four pieces in a row is a different version of this game and is played with a bigger grid. If each cell of the grid is filled and no player has already connected four discs, the game ends drawn, so no player wins.”
