Row Above
Four in a row, on one screen. Touch a column and the board is yours.
What it is
Four in a row on the standard seven-by-six board. Drop a counter into a column, get four of yours in a line before the other side does — across, up or diagonally.
It completes a shelf that already holds Far End, Fourth Side, Fifteen Home and Both Hands: games two people can play on one screen, without either of them installing anything.
It suits a screen on a wall
The board stands upright, so two people stand side by side and nothing needs turning round. And because it is turn-based it only ever needs one touch at a time — which means it works on the single-touch screens that a game like Far End cannot use at all.
There is no mode to choose
The board plays itself until a hand touches it. Tapping a column sits you down on a fresh board with your counter in that column, moving first. A second person joins by touching the free seat.
That differs from Fourth Side on purpose. A dots and boxes position stays open for a long time, so inheriting one is fine; a four-in-a-row position turns sharp within a few moves, and handing a stranger a half-played losing board is a poor welcome.
The computer waits a moment longer before its first reply than its later ones, so somebody watching has time to notice the free seat and take it.
How to play
- Take a seatTouch a column, or the free seat
- Drop a counterTap the column
A tap on the board during the computer's turn never takes its colour — it lights up the free seat instead, so the way in is shown rather than explained.
On a desktop, click a column, or use the left and right arrows to pick one and space or enter to drop. Two people share one mouse without trouble, because the turns are separated in time rather than in space.
What isn't settled yet
Whether two strangers take a seat each without either asking a question. Nothing that runs in a browser can test that.
Credits and licences
No third-party engine — it draws to a plain canvas. The typefaces it does use are embedded under the SIL Open Font Licence, with the copyright notice retained in the shipped file. Cover art was rendered from the game’s own drawing code.
Row Above is original work by Launchway Games.