Parker Connect Four Electronic Hand-Held Game by Hasbro

I?ve come to the conclusion that one of my five-year-old son?s primary purposes for existence is to embarrass and humiliate his mother. He?s devised a number of clever and devious ways to accomplish this task, the most recent of which is to beat me soundly and repetitively in Connect Four.

I made the mistake of buying the original box game of Connect Four earlier this summer when I noticed that my son was enjoying this game at his day camp. I thought it might be a fun way to interact with him, as well as teach him how to be a good loser because he has a tendency to be quite a spoiled sport when he loses any game.

Well, other than the first day that we played, he hasn?t had an opportunity to practice the art of graceful losing. Instead, we?ve had to work on how to be a graceful winner. To put it bluntly, my son kicks my butt in Connect Four.

The Premise of the Game

Connect Four is like a cross between checkers and tic-tac-toe but it?s vertically oriented which adds a whole host of challenges. The original game has two players battle each other with red and blacks checker-like disks. The vertical playing grid has 42 spaces ? 7 across and 6 up.

The goal of Connect Four is to be the first one to get four of your checkers in a row ? either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. It?s a simple concept but the actual execution can be tricky because you have to build upon other existing checkers to place your piece anywhere other than the bottom row.

The Agony of Defeat ? Playing Connect Four with My Son

The first time we played this game, he won. No sweat. I saw it coming and I actually let it happen in my kind-hearted, misguided attempt to be a nice Mom. Then I beat him a few times in a row and he started to get frustrated and tearful. I let him win the last game that day just to avoid the meltdown.

I?ve never "let" him win another game. He never gave me a chance. My son must have been practicing in his sleep because by the next day he was winning more games then I was.

Soon I was playing competitively, as I would against an adult peer, but it didn?t seem to help my cause. His favorite thing to say is "I set you up, Mama!" Then he proceeds to show me how, in several more moves, he will win the game and there?s not a single thing I can do to prevent it (other than upend the whole game which, though tempting, wouldn?t set a very good example).

On the positive side, he has had a lot of coaching and practice on how to win without gloating and bragging. So now when he wins he says "Good game, Mama" and tries his best to suppress his smirk.

I finally decided that the only chance I had to regain my briefly held edge in this game is to have some intensive practice ? without him. Therefore, I picked up a discounted Electronic Hand-Held Connect Four at Target and took it with me to a three-day workshop.

The Electronic Hand-Held Version of Connect Four

This electronic game is about the same size and shape as my Palm m100 (4 3/4" x 3 1/4"). The hand-held game has a yellow plastic case, red buttons, and a blue and white playing grid. It runs on a single AA battery (included).

The goal of the electronic hand-held version is the same as the original Connect Four game. However, in this game you play against the computer rather than a live, smirking opponent. The player has black checkers and the computer has white ones.

The electronic version also has some handy features not available in the original box game:

~~ Demo Game

If you?ve never played the game or you want a demonstration, you can push the hint/demo button (after pushing new game) and the computer will play a game for you.

~~ Hint

At the lowest skill level, you can ask the computer for a suggested move by pushing the hint/demo button. The computer will then place a black checker above a column to indicate the best move for you. I played an entire game this way, getting hints for every move. I won - duh!

~~ Sound

You can play this game with the sound on or off. I personally see no reason to play with the sound on since it doesn?t add anything to the enjoyment of the game. In fact, if you aren?t a very skilled player, the sound feature just adds to the humiliation because the sound of the computer winning the game is distinctly different than the sound of the player winning the game. Why advertise your failures to the rest of the world?

~~ High Score

This is kind of an odd feature. If your press the high score button, it is supposed to show the highest score since the battery was installed. However, this doesn?t make much sense with this game since there really isn?t a numerical score ? you either win, lose, or tie. So this button just shows the number of games played, number won (by the player), and number tied (it's tactful enough not to spell out the number of losses though simple arithmetic gets you there pretty easily). This same information is also displayed at the end of every game.

~~ Two Different Games

Within each skill level, the player has the option of selecting one of two types of games. Game 1 is the classic Connect Four. Game 2 plays the same as Game 1 except that the checkers in the grid disappear a few seconds after each checker is dropped. Therefore, you have to remember where all the checkers are as you plan your next move.

Somehow I accidentally got into Game 2 soon after I started playing the hand-held version. Since I didn?t have the instructions with me and never bothered to read them before I left for my workshop, I thought that there was some malfunction with my game. It drove me absolutely nuts to have the checkers disappear! I?m a person that likes to methodically study the grid display before I execute my losing moves. Fortunately I figured out how to get it back into Game 1 after I returned home and this hand-held game escaped the trash bin fate.

~~ Three Different Skill Levels

You can also select one of three skill levels for this game. According to the instructions, "the higher the level, the more strategically the computer ?thinks?." Unfortunately, the same is not true for me. Though I found the beginner?s level (#1) fairly easy (I won more than I lost), the intermediate level is significantly more challenging. For me, the expert level (#3) is just sheer frustration so I avoid it at all costs.

Did the Electronic Version Make Me a Better Player?

Well, yes, I think I did get a little better. However, I don?t know if the miniscule improvement will ever be noticed in MY household because this hand-held version has also made me son an even better player than he was before.

I never intended to let him play this game but he spotted it on my dresser one day and ran off with it to his room to play. He regularly comes up to me and says "See, Mama, I set him (the computer) up!" Then he gleefully places the winning checker. With the computer, he doesn?t even have to be a tactful winner.

My son mostly plays at the intermediate level and definitely wins more than the computer does. However, he does find the expert level rather frustrating and has declared it "impossible." No doubt he will be comfortable at the highest level in another week or two.

Pros and Cons of the Electronic Hand-Held Connect Four

Though I still prefer the original box version of Connect Four because of the larger size (easier on the old eyes), there are some advantages to the hand-held version. First of all, it?s small and very portable so you can just slip it in your pocket and play it whenever you find yourself waiting (in line at the grocery store, at restaurants, doctor?s office, in court, etc.). I personally prefer to lose to a computer than a real person because the embarrassment factor isn?t as great (unless my son is looking over my shoulder ? "Oh, jeez, don?t go THERE!!").

I also like the fact that I can select different skill levels and games, though you?ll never find me playing that annoying disappearing grid game again. Finally, you can use the game to teach yourself to be a better player. At the beginning levels, the demo games and hints can be very helpful. For players who want to sharpen their strategic skills, the computer at Level 3 can model some pretty clever moves. If you really want to blow your mind, try Level 3, Game 2.

Finally, this electronic game has an auto shutoff/sleep function that helps extend the battery life. You can leave it in the middle of a game and resume the same game at a later time by "waking it up" (touching the enter/on button).

The main disadvantage of this game is probably also the size. The diminutive grid can be strain on the eyes. It also annoys me terribly that I can?t reset the game and start over with the scoring. I suspect that removing the battery might reset it but I wish there was an easier method of getting rid of all those early (and subsequent) failures. I also wish it could keep different stats for different players but that's a lot to ask from a $7.99 game. There?s also no backlight feature so you can?t play in the dark, though somehow my son seems content playing in low light conditions.

Dr_Steph?s Recommendation

Heck, this is a no-brainer. The Electronic Hand-Held Connect Four is a cheap, fun, entertaining way to pass the time and sharpen your strategic game-playing skills. My advice is to keep it to yourself and practice like mad so you can kick butt on the regular box game. It didn't work for me but then I'm strategically challenged. My son clearly didn't inherit his talent from me, just his good looks.