April 24, 2003
Perfect Solution to Connect 4

I've "known" for a while that the game Connect 4 (or 'Four in a Row') had been 'solved', where solved mean't that someone had developed a perfect strategy to win every time.

Today I happened across a piece on Connect 4 theory by the mercurial and mysterious Cal. It set me off hunting to see if my "knowledge" was fact or folklore.

Turns out it was fact, but I had to do some postcript to PDF jiggerypokery before I could read it myself. (300k PDF).

Respect to Victor Allis (for it was he) for choosing such a great research topic for his Masters.

And the answer? Whoever plays first can always win.

Posted by tomski at April 24, 2003 07:38 PM | TrackBack
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