Games

Four in a row

Four in a row in an upright rack: drop red and yellow discs into the columns in turn, and line up four of your own - across, up or diagonally - before the other side does. Play in the classic 7 by 6 rack or a wider 8 by 7. The discs fall and rattle into place; the winning four lights up. Play the computer at five levels - the strongest reads the endgame out to the last disc - play a friend at one screen, ask for a hint, take moves back, or watch a demo game.

By Mykhailo Makarov

Actual application image

What happens

Two sides take turns dropping a disc into a column; it falls to the lowest free cell. The first to line up four of its own discs - across, up or diagonally - wins; if the rack fills up first, the game is a draw. The classic rack is 7 columns by 6 rows, the wide one 8 by 7. The side that begins has the edge: in the classic rack, perfect play from the middle column wins. The computer reads the moves ahead and counts the cells that would complete a four for either side; the weak levels look two to four moves ahead, the strongest reads the endgame to the last disc.

Try this

Click a column to drop a disc. The right mouse button turns the view, the wheel zooms.

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Sea battle on two grids of ten by ten: lay out your fleet, then trade shots with the computer - a miss raises a column of water, a hit sets the ship on fire, and a ship with every square hit goes down. Play with the fleet of ten ships, from a four-square battleship down to single boats, which may not touch and where a hit earns another shot; or with the five-ship fleet led by a carrier, shot for shot. Move and turn your ships before the battle or shuffle them, ask for a hint, play the computer at five levels or watch a demo game.

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Games

Ludo

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