What is Four?
Four is a free daily Connect Four endgame puzzle from Mind Loft. You play red, drop first, and face a position that is already won: a forced win in four of your moves on weekdays, five on Sundays. Exactly one column preserves that win. Every other drop loses it permanently, and the perfect engine never gives it back. A new puzzle appears daily at midnight Eastern, runs in the browser, and ranks you on a leaderboard that breaks ties on fewest wrong drops before time.
How to play Four
- Press Start to open the daily position. The moves-to-win counter shows whether you need four or five winning moves.
- Study the board before dropping. Only one column keeps the forced win; all others throw it away.
- Tap a column to drop your disc. There is no undo, so treat every drop as final.
- Answer the engine's stubborn defence and keep choosing the only winning column until you complete the win in the stated number of moves.
- If you drop incorrectly and lose the win, play on for a draw. A draw scores 4 points, while a lost win or giving up scores 0.
Scoring and leaderboard
The result uses a fixed scale: a win scores 10, a draw 4, and a thrown-away win or resignation scores 0. Leaderboard ties are broken first by the fewest wrong drops, then by the fastest time, so a slow correct move ranks above a quick mistake. The timer and moves-to-win counter sit above the board and update as you play.
Four uses a Connect Four engine that always chooses the strongest defence. Everyone gets the same reply to the same drop, so each game follows the same line. A wrong drop cannot be undone: the engine continues with perfect play, the forced win disappears, and the best you can do is draw. Every position is a real, reachable board verified by two independent solvers. Against optimal defence, the win takes exactly the stated number of moves, never fewer.
Sunday Edition
Weekday puzzles require four winning moves. The Sunday Edition requires five, so you need to read one move further and allow more time for analysis before dropping.
Tips for fewer wrong drops
Take your time before the first drop. Leaderboard ties are decided by fewest errors first, then speed, so a deliberate correct move is better than a rushed mistake.
Count the moves carefully. If a line seems to win before the stated number, you have misread the board. The stated count is exact against optimal defence.
Every board has been checked by two independent solvers. If no column seems to work, the error is in your calculation, not the grid.
The single free hint appears only on your first play. It greys out two losing columns, narrowing the choices without showing the answer.