This video is going to show you how to

win Connect 4 every time. First, we'll

break down the basics. Next, we're going

to go over traps and why they are

necessary to win a game. Then, we're

going to go over odds and evens and how

this controls the entire game. Then,

we'll look at keeping count, which lets

you predict where every piece will land.

And finally, we'll show you how to set

up traps to win the game. If you gain

value from this video, give it a like,

write a comment about anything, and

subscribe because you're awesome. Now,

before we get into traps, let's touch on

some basics. I'll assume you already

know how to play Connect Four. You need

four in a row, and you drop the pieces

straight down. So, if you didn't know

the rules, well, there they are. There's

three directions in which you can get

four in a row. Vertical, horizontal, and

diagonal. Since there are seven columns

in Connect Four, this means that in

order to get a horizontal or diagonal

four in a row, you need to have one of

those pieces be in the middle column. So

having more pieces in the middle is

advantageous.

A lot of the game will involve blocking

the other player from stringing pieces

together. If the player has two in a row

unblocked, this is considered a minor

threat, while if they have three in a

row unblocked, this is considered a

major threat. With a major threat, you

must block the three in a row, or else

they'll win on the next turn. With a

minor threat, you don't have to

immediately block, but you could also be

threatened if another piece makes its

way into the row. If you're paying

attention, you should always be able to

stop a major threat by blocking the

fourth piece. That is, unless if you

have set up a trap. What is a trap?

Let's look at perhaps the most simple

trap possible. Let's say you're red.

Yellow goes first and in the middle. You

put your piece here. Then yellow goes

here. You play on top of them in the

middle row. Then yellow places their

third piece here. Now you're in a

dilemma. If you block on the left, they

can play on the right. And if you block

on the right, they can play on the left.

You've been forced into an ultimatum

where you can't possibly win. This is a

trap. Let's look at a more complex trap

called a seven. Your pieces form this

shape that looks like a seven. When you

play here, the other player is forced to

block you here, but their blocking piece

now allows you to get your win on top of

it. The same scenario could be achieved

from two rows of three stacked on top of

each other. This trap is brought about

by the turntaking nature of the game.

Since each player has to play one at a

time, if you can get backto back major

threats, it means the defending player

will be forced to block the first threat

while the trapping player can capitalize

on the second threat. This is brought

about by the odds and evens nature of

the game. In a game, there will always

be an odd player and an even player. The

odd player is who went first, and the

even player is who went second. This

will never change no matter where anyone

plays their pieces or who is winning.

Since the game will involve exactly 42

moves, 21 by each player, we know that

if yellow goes first, red will go last.

Let's imagine we fill up the entire

board except for one row that no one

wants to touch. That is because both red

and yellow have a trap set up for row

two. Whoever plays first in this column

will lose as the next player will play

and land in row two, completing their

four in a row. Who wins the game, red or

yellow? Actually, we don't know which

color will win, but we do know that the

even player will win. If we count back

from the top of the column, we know that

the even player will play last and would

end up with row six, then the odd player

row five, even row four, odd row three,

and then even row two. With this setup,

there was no other possible winner. And

because of this, it can be very

advantageous for the even player to set

threats on even rows and the odd player

to set threats on odd rows since if you

go vice versa, your threats will just

become blocked. However, keeping track

of what's even and what's odd isn't

always so clear-cut. Take for example

this board with two columns of five

remaining. This threat sits on row

three. So, is the threat an even threat

or an odd threat? Since there are 10

remaining spots, it means it's odd's

turn. Odd has to play on row two, the

even row. Even has to block on row

three, then odd, even, odd. Then even is

forced to play on the next row two,

giving odd their expected victory on the

odd row. The last column has to conform

to the evens and odds methodology. But

not every column leading up to it needs

to. This is where we need to keep count.

Keeping count simply involves having an

understanding of how the game will

develop, working backwards from the end

so that you can know when a column will

be played by the even or the odd player.

Now, a quick note about this section.

You probably won't need to get into this

level of detail to beat your cousin at

Christmas. However, if you can't figure

out why that 1,000 IQ robot seems to

know exactly where to go every time,

this section is for you. Now in order to

understand how all of this works, we

need to understand an underlying

property of odds and evens. If you have

an even amount of evens, you will get an

even number. If you have an even amount

of odds, you will also get an even

number. If you have an odd amount of

evens, again, you'll get an even number.

But if you have an odd amount of odds,

you will get an odd number. If you

combine any amount of evens and odds

where there are an odd amount of odds,

you will get an odd. Now, we know

already that connect four has an even

number of turns in 42. But does it

really take for example these two

scenarios? One where you have a double

threat from both teams on row two of a

six empty column and the other where you

have a double threat on row three of a

five empty column. both have the exact

same direct impact. If either player

places one piece in this column, the

other player will win the game, meaning

certain death. So obviously neither

player wants to do that. So in essence,

we can block out this column from

wanting to be played at any costs.

However, what do we already know about

this column? We know that if every

single remaining spot is filled, the

last pieces in this column will have to

fill out even and odd. So in the first

case, the even player will win since the

odd player will be forced to play their

piece in row one. In the second case,

the even player will be forced to play

first in row two and the odd player will

win. If we completely remove the two

death columns from play, the six column

will remove an even number of plays from

the board and the remaining plays will

still happen odd than even. If we remove

the odd column from the board, the

remaining plays will happen even then

odd. We already know that the even

player will be forced to play first in

the column, meaning that the odd player

will play last in the rest of the

places. And therefore, the odd player

has become even. So, let's take a board

with one empty column of six and our

depth column of five. Since we know that

the column of five is mutually assured

destruction, both sides will have to

focus their plays on the other column.

There are 11 total plays remaining. So

as said before, the odd player will play

the even rows and the even player will

play the odd rows. This means that if

the odd player has set threats on even

rows, they will win. And if they have

set threats on odd rows, those threats

will be blocked. We can keep taking this

process out indefinitely. So here's how

to make the method of keeping count

easy. Take any columns of double threats

and count the remaining plays in the

total column. Then take how many plays

are needed to reach the death spot and

subtract it from that number and count

if the final number is even or odd. For

example, if you have your column of five

with the death spot at three, you will

do 5 minus 2. So you'll have an odd

number in three. If your final number is

odd, odds will win the death column. If

your final number is even, evens will

win the death column. If you have two

columns 1 6 and 1 5 double threats at

two and three 5 - 2 and 6 - 2 = 3 + 4 =

7 odds win. If both are on row three 5 -

2 6 - 3 3 + 3 = 6 evens win. One last

scenario. Let's say you have

interchanging major threats on a column

with several columns remaining. Your

threat is first. So, if you play here,

your threat will be blocked, but you'll

also block your opponent's threat a row

above it. Do you wait until the end, or

do you trip this row and allow your

threat to be blocked? For this example,

we're using the column of five again,

your threat is on row three. If you're

evens, you know, if this row is last,

both players will get blocked and the

game might end in a tie. If you're odds,

you'll be winning. Let's play as even.

Now, we'll look over at our column six

on the left. The other player will not

play in our column of five because

they'll lose. But as that column of five

is removed from the game, the column of

six has shifted who is odd and who is

even. Your threat on row four is now an

odd column. If you play on the column of

six, you'll play in row one, odd row

two. Then if you play row three, odd

blocks row four, you play row five, and

odd in row six. You'll now play in row

two. Odd blocks you in row three. You

block row four. And the game ends in a

tie. However, if we backtrack, instead

of playing in the column of six, we play

in the column of five. Odd blocks you on

row three, you block row four. Odd plays

row five. You finish row six. Odd now

plays row one. You play row two. Odd

plays row three. And you win on row

four. This is how you can change who is

the odd or even player in certain

columns based off of the order in which

you play your pieces. However, how do we

set ourselves up in these situations in

the first place? In order to win Connect

4, we need to set up traps. When setting

up traps, we're going to assume your

opponent is paying attention. So,

they're going to block you when there is

a major threat and will probably be

getting in your way along the course of

the game. You can also catch your

opponent off guard if they haven't paid

attention to an open minor threat. Just

like the first trap of the video, when

you have two in a row, either

horizontally or diagonally, where five

straight pieces can be played, the other

player needs to block one of those five

spots. or you can force a win by playing

three in a row with nothing blocking on

either side. Assuming your opponent is

paying attention, your traps will need

to be a little more sophisticated. There

are two ultimate goals when setting

traps. The first involves setting a trap

where the other player has nowhere else

to go on the board other than boosting

your four in a row, which in this case,

as discussed in odds and evens, you want

to have your rows correspond with your

starting order. The other involves

forcing a block, which can be done by

having two major threats vertically on

top of each other or by having two

directions in which your play can fill a

row. The aforementioned seven setup

involves a scenario where you have two

major threats vertically on top of each

other. A great way to give yourself the

most opportunities to set up traps is to

try and get as many pieces in the middle

of the board as possible while also

zigzagging your pieces to create

diagonal possibilities. Diagonals go a

long way. You can quickly turn someone's

row into a double threat possibility by

creating a diagonal row. You can also

press people into playing where you want

by making minor threats. Back to the

seven setup. Let's say you go first.

Your opponent plays on top of you and

then you play on top of them. They

decide to play next to you. You can put

your piece on top of theirs creating a

minor threat possibility. If they go to

block that, you can put your piece on

top of your piece. If they go anywhere

other than the middle, you can play in

the middle, giving another minor threat.

If they stop the minor threat, you can

play on top of that, and you've created

your seven. A great way to take control

of the game is to string pieces together

in the middle, then force your opponent

to make blocks on the edges or above,

while on your turn, you place more

pieces in the middle. Again, the edges

can't work without the middle. So, you

can get your opponent wasting a lot of

their turns doing this. Just by having

lots of pieces in the middle, you can

force the unopposed three from the

beginning of the video by forcing your

opponent to block you vertically as you

build it. Even if a major threat isn't

ready to be finished yet, setting them

up can make the board more dangerous for

your opponent, such as this diagonal

where the end is unfinished, but when

you place your third piece in your

column, your opponent has to block it

and then you place your fourth piece on

top of their piece to get the win.

Setting traps is an art, so if you have

traps you enjoy, write them in the

comments. This is everything you need to

know to win Connect 4 every time. If you

enjoyed this video, give it a like.

Write a comment if you want another game

covered and thank you for watching.