{"id":343,"date":"2020-04-27T07:34:32","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T07:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo\/?page_id=343"},"modified":"2020-05-16T22:17:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T22:17:11","slug":"connect-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/meeting-3\/connect-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Game 2: Connect  4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"425\" height=\"446\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2020\/04\/5154mQirzL._AC_SX425_.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2020\/04\/5154mQirzL._AC_SX425_.jpg 425w, https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2020\/04\/5154mQirzL._AC_SX425_-286x300.jpg 286w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Connect 4 game was designed in the 1970s by David Wexler.   His desire to create a &#8220;vertical&#8221; game led him to invent Connect 4.  Read about how the game was created <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howardwexlertoys.com\/bio\/inventing-connect-four\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Connect 4 is a two-player game similar to Tic-Tac-Toe.  It is played on a 6 x 7 grid (with 6 rows and 7 columns).  Players choose a color, and take turn dropping their colored chips from the top row down a column.  The first player to get four chips in a row (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) wins!   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Play the game <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.silvergames.com\/en\/connect-4\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Question:<\/strong> How many possible winning 4-in-a-row positions are there? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Question:<\/strong> Could you find a strategy to ensure that you always win if you go first?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-subtle-background-background-color wp-block-paragraph\">The Connect 4 game has been solved mathematically.  In fact, if you start first and play perfectly, you can always win!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Question:<\/strong> How about we keep the same board (6 rows and 7 columns) and play Connect 3?  Or Connect 5?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Connect 4 game was designed in the 1970s by David Wexler. His desire to create a &#8220;vertical&#8221; game led him to invent Connect 4. Read about how the game was created here. Connect 4 is a two-player game similar to Tic-Tac-Toe. It is played on a 6 x 7 grid (with 6 rows and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"parent":1909,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-343","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":378,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343\/revisions\/378"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ps.uci.edu\/mathceo-old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}