Connect Four darts rules: drop a token, make it four
Connect Four darts is the tabletop game played on the wire. Seven numbers own the seven columns of a 7×6 grid; hit a number and your token drops into that column, falling to the lowest empty cell exactly as a counter would. Four in a row — across, up, or either diagonal — wins. Two players, three darts a turn.
How a token drops
- Seven of the twenty numbers own the columns, dealt once at the start of the game, left column first — so nobody has played this board before.
- A dart on a column’s number drops one token into that column, and it falls to the lowest empty cell. You choose the column; gravity chooses the row.
- Three darts a turn, and MISS for a stray — a dart on a number no column owns does nothing at all.
- Four in a row wins, in any of the four directions, and a column with six tokens in it is full and takes no more.
- A full grid with no line goes to the most tokens, and an equal count is a draw.
Why the grid is harder than the tabletop game
On the table you place a counter wherever you like, so Connect Four is pure calculation. Here it is calculation plus the wire: the column that blocks your opponent’s three-in-a-row might be the 3, and the column that finishes yours might be the 19, and you have three darts to decide which one you can actually hit. Missing a block is not a bad decision, it is a bad dart — and both count the same on the grid.
The other difference is the accident. Every token you drop raises the row that the next token in that column lands on, for both players, so a dart that helps you can hand a diagonal to the other side. In a tight game the best throw is often the column nobody wants.
House rules this board plays
The part no other rules page has, because no other site implements them. Each one opens the setup screen with that rule already set.
- Pay the bed The rule that finally makes the treble ring mean something here: a double drops two tokens and a treble three, into the same column — so one treble can complete a four on its own, and aiming at a column with a single cell left is an expensive way to spend a dart, because the tokens that do not fit are simply wasted. Set it up →
- The columns you pick The seven numbers you name, left column first, instead of the shuffle — the same grid every night, so two games and two players can be compared. The high end of the wire keeps every column throwable: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Set it up →
- The fast one A chosen grid and the bed rule: everybody knows where the columns are, and a treble ends a game in a hurry. About ten minutes, and the version to settle an argument with. Set it up →
The shipped game is the flat one: any dart on a column’s number is one token, whatever bed it found, and the ring is decoration.
Common questions
- How does Connect Four darts work? Seven numbers own the seven columns: a dart on a column's number drops one token into it, the token falls to the lowest empty cell, and four in a row wins.
- What happens if a dart misses every column? Nothing at all. Tap MISS for a dart on a number no column owns, and the turn carries on with the darts you have left.
- Does a treble drop more than one token? Only with the bed rule on, where a double drops two tokens and a treble three into the same column. The shipped game is flat: one token a dart, whatever bed it found.
Play it
Connect Four darts is one of the twenty modes in Friendly Fire Casper, a free darts scoreboard that runs in a browser and keeps working when the wifi drops. It deals the columns, drops the tokens, spots the four the moment it lands, undoes the dart you typed wrong, and can put the grid on a TV while both players score from their own phones.