New player questions

[charliec247]

I'm just checking out Connect Four on BGA for the first time and all of the different board sizes and opening rules are completely news to me. Thus, I have a couple of questions

1. Why all the different sizes? Are there any strategic differences in approach, or is it just "work with the space you have"?
2. Which setting (both board size and opening rules) is preferred for competitive gaming? I've heard that Connect Four is a solved game, but that was before I discovered all these board size and opening variations.

Thanks in advance

[Ceaseless]

I'm just checking out Connect Four on BGA for the first time and all of the different board sizes and opening rules are completely news to me. Thus, I have a couple of questions

1. Why all the different sizes? Are there any strategic differences in approach, or is it just "work with the space you have"?
2. Which setting (both board size and opening rules) is preferred for competitive gaming? I've heard that Connect Four is a solved game, but that was before I discovered all these board size and opening variations.

Thanks in advance

Yes, changing the board changes the game. To give a simple example, take the standard Connect 4 board where there are 7 columns 6 slots deep. Let's play a hypothetical game where we don't have to get a 4 in a row, but whoever goes first only has to take one slot on an even row (rows 2, 4 or 6) to win. If they fail, they lose. In other words, the going second player has to take all 21 even slots. The going second player easily wins by taking the slot above the first player every turn. If we change the board to a 7x7, this no longer works. This hypothetical scenario is the extreme version, but the concept is a commonly used one. Understanding how even and odd slots impact the game is a major part of Connect 4.

I haven't paid much attention to Connect 4 recently, but whatever the Arena Mode is will probably be a good place to start. It seems comfortable with a few different modes, so each season may switch things up a bit.

[play4row]

to add to what ceaseless said - yeah the standard 7x6 board was solved back in 1988 by victor allis. first player wins with perfect play if they start in the center column. that's why most competitive settings use opening rules or different board sizes to keep things interesting.

the different board sizes genuinely change the strategy because of the even/odd row dynamics ceaseless mentioned. on a 7x6 board (even number of rows) the first player has a structural advantage with odd threats, but on a 7x7 board that flips around. so it's not just more space, it fundamentally changes who benefits from what.

for getting started i'd just play whatever the current arena mode is and get comfortable with the basics. once you start seeing why certain columns matter more than others the depth really opens up.

[charliec247]

Thanks, but what is the current arena format? I can't access the page because I don't have 100 ELO. From the posts I only see 9x9

[Ceaseless]

Thanks, but what is the current arena format? I can't access the page because I don't have 100 ELO. From the posts I only see 9x9

It should say on the game page the newest season is 9x9.