The rules of 4x4 are the same rules as the normal game, with a few extras:
1) Instead of 2 players, we have four players.
, we'll say, in that order.
The board is double sided, which'll look like this:
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The light board is the "front" board, whilst the death board is the "back" board. Each board is 9x8, like the normal board.
The tokens of players take up one board's tile. Two different players can, and will often, occupy the same tile, on different boards. Both players can make connections from that tile.
Connections can go across the boards; You can use lines from both boards to make connect 4s, and that is often how you will end up making your wins.
Because each board is separate, which means you can't put a token above another if that token doesn't have one below it on the same board, AKA non-blocker counters cannot float. This is why the light and death boards have been marked.
Example:
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This is not allowed. The water is on the death board, there is nothing on the death board.
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This is allowed, as the chips are on the same board.
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This is allowed, as the chips are on the same board.
One more thing: Blockers.
Each player has two double sided tokens (s)he can use. Each player can only use two blockers the entire game.
Blockers can float- all they need is just one tile to be beneath it. You cannot place tokens underneath floating blockers.
Blockers, in the original game at least, can be used as part of your own tokens. But for the sake of convenience later on when people forget about blockers, you cannot use blockers as part of your connections. Blockers use the chroma symbol (
) and are displayed like this:
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Example of a blocker floating.
