1-2-3-4 red discs! I win again! :-D
Written: Jan 07 '07
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Simple enough for kids to play, enjoyable game
Cons: Difficult to find well-matched opponents, too many stalemates with two good players
The Bottom Line: A nice game but a bit limited.
|
|
|
| captaind's Full Review: Connect Four |
Connect Four is a very simple game that children and adults of any age can play easily enough, though you’ll probably have to let the kids win a few times. (Fortunately I don’t have kids of my own, but I had to let my nieces and nephew win enough times otherwise they’d never had played the game with me in my post-adolescent years!
As the name suggests, you need to get four game pieces – either yellow or red coloured discs (perhaps you can get different colours nowadays, but every version I’ve played has yellow and red discs). You insert the discs into a 7 x 6 grid (42 spaces in total, discs obviously drop straight to the bottom line if there are no other discs beneath them). Four discs of the can be “connected” either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. This very simple premise can make for some fairly intense games between two good players; planning your own strategy while making sure to block your opponent’s can be a tricky business. It’s usually very easy to see someone trying to make a horizontal line, even easier for a vertical, so it’s really the diagonal ones you’ve got to be watchful for. The trick is to get the board in a position where blocking you one way leaves another way open.
One problem I find with this game is finding an opponent that gives a good challenge (at least in the physical incarnation – playing it online this poses much less of problem.) I don’t want to sound like I’m boasting when I say that, it’s just that I played it quite a lot as a good and became pretty good at it, but few people I’ve played against ever seem to have truly got to grips with really playing a good game. People are just much too predictable. On the other hand, if you do find someone else to play against who’s really good is that you’ll probably find that games often end in stalemate; it’s not as unavoidably futile as “tic-tac-toe”, but it can eventually become as pointless.
Really then, although I do like Connect Four, it’s a pretty limited game. Much better for children aged around 8-12 than anyone else, though a quick game can be fun for anyone. I’d still recommend it, but the long-term appeal definitely isn’t there as much as in some strategy board games such as Chinese Checkers. I suppose it’s comparable in complexity to draughts (checkers) when you first start playing it (draughts I mean). A pretty good game, and the travel version is particularly useful on holidays when you have kids along – that’s where most of my experience playing it comes from, after all!!
Connect Four can cost up to about £12 for the full size version (nearly $20), though I expect you’d be able to find it cheaper with a little looking around. The compact travel version costs around £3-5 (about $5-9), and is obviously a much better bet if you want a game that can be taken with you (as well as being cheaper). Durability is quite good, the only potential problem is the mechanism that holds the grid upright can snap if you (or more likely your child!) puts too much pressure on it. One warning though – for very small children the small discs on the travel model could be a choking hazard, and those little pieces can be pretty easy to lose if you’re not careful.
Other Reviews in Kids & Family
Chinese Checkers
iMAGiNiff
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 5
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.