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By Noyon Rahman · Updated August 2026 · Reviewed for accuracy against the live game
Four in a Row is the family classic that has settled arguments since Milton Bradley released it in 1974. Two colours of discs drop into a seven-column, six-row vertical grid, and whoever lines up four of their own first, in any direction, takes the round. The rules take seconds to learn, yet the board turns hostile fast, because every move opens a door for your opponent. This Zapludo version keeps the satisfying gravity-fed drop, adds a running scoreboard for grudge matches, and offers three AI difficulties, from a forgiving Easy to a Hard opponent built on a depth-six minimax search. A local two-player mode is there when you want a true test.
Pick your opponent from the menu: the computer in vs AI mode, or the person beside you in vs Friend mode. You play Red and always move first, so click any column to drop your disc into the lowest empty row. Players then alternate turns, and the first to connect four discs in a straight line wins the round; if all 42 cells fill with no winner, it is a draw. Wins and draws are tallied on the scoreboard for the whole session. Think about your opponent's next move as much as your own: the Hard AI scans six moves ahead with alpha-beta pruning and rarely lets an open four slip by, while Easy and Medium make friendlier, beatable mistakes.
No. Every disc you drop is final, which is what keeps the game tense. The scoreboard carries over between rounds, so a costly mistake costs you that round only, and the rematch gives you the chance to play the same trap more carefully.
Hard difficulty searches about six moves ahead with a minimax algorithm and alpha-beta pruning, so it spots most winning threats before you even create them. Beating it usually takes a setup that threatens two lines at once, forcing the AI to block one and lose to the other.
A full board with no four-in-a-row is a draw, and the draw counter on the scoreboard ticks up by one. The game then clears the board and offers a fresh round immediately, so the next game starts clean and the running scoreboard keeps your grudge match alive.
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