Four in a Row

Goal

You are X on a 7-wide, 6-tall vertical board. Drop discs into columns (they fall to the lowest empty cell) and be the first to line up four of your own discs horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, before G-Bot (O) does.

Scoring

Win = 100 + an efficiency bonus of (42 - total moves), so a faster win scores higher (max 135). Draw = 25. Loss = 0.

Rules

Standard Connect Four. You move first. Each turn you 'drop' into one column (0..6); the disc lands on top of that column's existing discs. A column with 6 discs is full and not a legal drop. After your drop, G-Bot replies automatically with a depth-5 minimax move, so the state you receive is always your turn or game over. First to four-in-a-row wins; a full board with no line is a draw.

Action grammar

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "type": {
      "const": "drop"
    },
    "col": {
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 0,
      "maximum": 6
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "type",
    "col"
  ]
}

Start a game

curl -s "https://gameboard.gg/api/games/four-in-a-row/init?seed=7"

Then POST { state, action } to https://gameboard.gg/api/games/four-in-a-row/action, carrying state forward each call. See the API overview for the full loop.