View source for Score four

{{Short description|Board game}}
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[[Image:Qubic.jpg|thumb|A handmade score four game]]

'''Score four''' is a "three dimensional" [[abstract strategy game]], similar to [[Connect Four]] ([[Milton Bradley]], 1974). It was first sold under the name "Score Four" by Funtastic in 1968. Lakeside issued 4 different versions in the 1970s. Later [[Hasbro]] sold the game as "'''Connect Four Advanced'''" in the UK.

The object of score four is to position four beads of the same color in a straight line on any level or any angle.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3656/score-four|title=Score Four {{!}} Board Game {{!}} BoardGameGeek|website=boardgamegeek.com|access-date=2016-11-27}}</ref> As in [[Tic Tac Toe]], Score Four strategy centers around forcing a win by making multiple threats simultaneously, while preventing the opponent from doing so.

[[Image:Score4Zugzwang.png|thumb|Endgame in ''score four''. Black to move. Game will end with a win for him due to [[Zugzwang]].]]

==Tic stac toe==
The game has also been introduced as "tic stac toe", but with the introduction of a blocker piece for each side.  In the game of Tic Stac Toe, on a player's turn, he or she may place a blocker piece to defend a threat of the opponent, before placing one of his or her own pieces.  The blocker piece is of neutral color and cannot complete a winning line.

==Reception==
''[[Games (magazine)|Games]]'' magazine included ''Score Four'' in their "Top 100 Games of 1980", noting that it "takes games of tic-tac-toe into the third dimension with its 4 x 4 x 4 playing board".<ref>{{cite magazine | date=November–December 1980 |title=Top 100 Games of 1980  | magazine=[[Games (magazine)|Games]] | issue=20 | pages=55 }}</ref>

''[[Games (magazine)|Games]]'' magazine included ''Score Four'' in their "Top 100 Games of 1982", noting that "Strategy is complicated by the fact that beads cannot be played on the top levels until the columns below have been filled in".<ref>{{cite magazine|editor-last=  Schmittberger|editor-first= R. Wayne | date=November 1982 |title=The Top 100 Games 1982|magazine=[[Games (magazine)|Games]]| issue=33|pages=43}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Connect Four]]
* [[Connect 4x4]]
* [[Tic-tac-toe]]
* [[Qubic]]
* [[Quarto (board game)|''Quarto'' (board game)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.abstractstrategy.com/score-four.html Score Four]
* {{bgg|3656}}
* [http://intensecomputers.com/portfolio/scorfor/ScorFor.html ScorFor] written by [http://intensecomputers.com/portfolio Eric Ingamells]

{{Tic-Tac-Toe}}

[[Category:Board games introduced in 1968]]
[[Category:Abstract strategy games]]
[[Category:Games of mental skill]]
[[Category:Hasbro games]]
[[Category:Tic-tac-toe]]


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