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Mochi Four

A candy take on Connect Four - tap a column to drop a glossy pink mochi disc and out-think a cute AI rival to four in a row, across, up, or on the diagonal.

About Mochi Four

Mochi Four is the classic Connect Four lineup game dressed in glossy mochi. The board is a vertical grid of empty circular slots, and you and a cute AI rival take turns dropping discs into it. You play the smiling pink mochi; the rival plays the world's glow colour with a cheeky, determined little face, so it is always obvious whose disc is whose. You never place a disc directly into a cell - you tap a column and the disc falls to the lowest empty slot in that column, exactly like the real tabletop game. The first player to line up four of their own discs in a straight line - horizontal, vertical, or either diagonal - wins the round.

Because you only choose a column and gravity chooses the row, every drop does two things at once: it advances one of your lines and it opens up the cell directly above for whoever moves next. That is the heart of the strategy. Stacking discs to threaten a vertical four can quietly hand your opponent the slot they needed for a diagonal, and a clever player - or a clever AI - is always weighing both. The discs land with a soft squash-and-bounce, a quiet plip on release and a thunk as they settle, so the board always feels physical even though it is pure canvas.

The rival is a genuine opponent, not a random tapper. It runs a minimax search with alpha-beta pruning that looks several moves ahead, scoring every possible four-in-a-row window on the board and favouring the powerful centre columns. It will always grab an immediate winning move and always block yours, so you can never sneak a win past it by accident - you have to actually out-plan it by building two threats at once. How far it looks ahead is the difficulty dial: it climbs from a gentle one-move-ahead opponent on the first levels to a five-move-deep planner by the final world.

There are 20 hand-tuned levels split across five candy worlds - Berry, Citrus, Mint, Ocean, and Galaxy - each with its own colour and starry backdrop. Early worlds use a comfortable seven-by-six board against a forgiving rival; later worlds widen the grid to eight-by-seven and sharpen the AI so it sees your traps coming. Win and you take three stars and move on; lose - or fill the board with no line, a draw - and the round simply offers a friendly retry of the same level, with no penalty. Clear all twenty and an endless mode unlocks at the biggest board and full AI strength, with the search depth ramping higher the further you go, so the rival never stops getting smarter.

Everything is built for unhurried, kid-friendly thinking. There is no clock and no move limit, a faint preview disc hovers over the column nearest your finger so you can see where a tap will land before you commit, and a win celebration pulses the winning four, draws a glowing line through them, and bursts sparkles across the board. Your unlocked levels and stars are saved on your own device, so you can always pick up where you left off.

How to play Mochi Four

Look at the board: your glossy pink discs are yours, and the cheeky glow-coloured discs belong to the AI rival.
Move your finger across the columns - a faint pink preview disc floats over the column you are pointing at, showing exactly where your disc will land.
Tap a column to drop your disc; it falls to the lowest empty slot in that column with a little bounce.
Watch the rival take its turn - it drops one disc back, so plan your next move around the slot it just opened up.
Keep dropping to line up four of your pink discs in a row - across, straight up, or on either diagonal - to win the level.
Win to earn three stars and tap Next for the following level; if the rival gets four first or the board fills up, tap Retry to try the same level again.

Controls

Input	Action
`Tap` / `left-click a column`	Drop your mochi disc into that column (it falls to the lowest empty slot)
`Move pointer over the board`	Show a floating preview of where your disc will land
`Space` / `Enter`	Advance to the next level (or retry) from the result card
`Settings button`	Open the sound toggle, how-to-play, and the level select menu
`Home button`	Return to the Anime Mochi home screen

Tips & strategy

Take the centre columns early - more winning lines pass through the middle than through the edges, so controlling the centre gives you the most ways to make four.
Look in every direction, not just across: vertical stacks and the two diagonals are easy to miss, and the rival loves to sneak a diagonal four through a busy board.
Aim to build two threats at once. The rival always blocks a single immediate win, so the only way past it is a move that creates two winning spots it cannot cover with one disc.
Remember that every disc you drop opens the slot directly above it - before you stack, check whether the cell you are creating completes a line for the rival.
Use the floating preview disc to read the landing slot before you tap, especially on the wider later boards where columns are narrow.
Watch what the rival is setting up, not just what you are. A disc that blocks its line is often worth more than one that extends yours.
On the harder worlds the AI looks several moves ahead, so avoid moves that force it to make a drop that also happens to help its own line - it will happily take that gift.
There is no timer and no move limit, so slow down and trace each of your four-in-a-row directions before committing to a column.

Game features

A polished Connect Four lineup game where you tap a column to drop a glossy mochi disc and race to four in a row.
A genuine AI rival powered by minimax with alpha-beta pruning that looks several moves ahead, favours the centre, and always takes a win and blocks yours.
Difficulty that grows the board and the AI together - from a gentle 7x6 one-move opponent up to a 8x7 five-move-deep planner.
20 hand-tuned levels across five candy worlds - Berry, Citrus, Mint, Ocean, and Galaxy - each with its own colour and starfield.
An endless mode unlocked after level 20 at the biggest board and full AI strength, with search depth that keeps ramping as the rounds climb.
Cute, clearly-different discs - your smiling pink mochi versus the rival's cheeky glow-coloured face - so kids always know whose turn landed.
A floating preview disc, squash-and-bounce drop physics, a glowing winner line, and a sparkle-burst celebration on every win.
Kid-friendly framing with no timer and no move limit: a loss or a draw just offers a friendly retry of the same level instead of a penalty.
Three stars and saved progress on every clear, stored locally, plus soft synthesized sound effects - all muteable, running instantly in the browser with no download.

The Drop That Makes You Read the Whole Column

Mochi Four lives in one gesture you already know - tap a column, a glossy pink disc tips off the top and tumbles to the lowest empty slot with a little squashy bounce - but the depth hides in what you cannot do. You only ever choose a column, never a cell, so gravity decides the row for you. That single constraint is the whole game: stacking a disc to set up a vertical four also hands the cell directly above it to your opponent, and the cute rival is always watching for exactly that gift. Every drop is a question about the cell it creates, not just the one it fills.

The rival is not a scripted patsy. Behind its cheeky little face is a real minimax search with alpha-beta pruning, scoring every length-four window on the board - horizontals, verticals, and both diagonals - and weighting the center column because that is where the most lines cross. Crucially it has two reflexes bolted on top of the search: it will always take a winning drop the instant one exists, and it will always plug your winning drop the instant you threaten it, even on the gentlest Berry level where it otherwise plays loosely. You never win because it forgot to block; you win because you built a threat it could not block and dodge at once.

Difficulty here is not a slider on the same board - it is the board and the brain growing together. Berry hands you a forgiving seven-by-six grid against a one-move-ahead rival; by Galaxy you are on a wider eight-by-seven facing a five-ply search that sees your double threats coming and sets its own. The honest jump is the diagonal. On the small early grids you can almost count the rows by eye, but once the board widens the diagonal fours start hiding inside busy stacks, and the rival starts laddering discs to build them while you are fixated on the obvious horizontal. Learning to see the diagonal is the real curve.

What keeps it kind for younger hands is that nothing is timed and nothing is hidden. A faint preview disc floats over the column nearest your finger so a six-year-old can see exactly where a tap will land before committing, the two players are colored so differently - your pink against the world's glow - that there is never a doubt whose disc is whose, and a loss is framed as 'so close, try again' with a retry rather than a punishment. Clear all twenty curated levels and an endless mode opens at full strength, the search depth climbing with the round number, so the rival keeps getting sharper long after the worlds run out.

Game details

Title: Mochi Four
Genre: Strategy
Players: 1 player
Controls: Tap a column to drop your mochi disc; line up four of your own discs in any direction to win.
Platforms: Web browser, Android, iOS (no download)
Developer: Anime Mochi
Released: 2026
Last updated: June 2026
Price: Free to play

Frequently asked questions

How do I win a round of Mochi Four?

Line up four of your own pink discs in a straight line - horizontally across a row, vertically up a column, or along either diagonal. You drop discs by tapping a column, and the first player to connect four of their colour wins the level. The rival is trying to do exactly the same thing with its own discs at the same time.

Why can't I place a disc in any cell I want?

Just like real Connect Four, you choose a column, not a cell - gravity drops your disc to the lowest empty slot in that column. That constraint is the whole strategy: you can't fill a gap directly, so you have to build your line from the bottom up, and every disc you drop opens the cell above it for whoever moves next.

How good is the AI rival?

It's a real opponent, not a random one. The rival runs a minimax search with alpha-beta pruning that looks several moves ahead, scores every possible four-in-a-row window on the board, and prefers the centre columns where the most lines cross. It will always take an immediate winning move and always block yours, even on the easiest levels, so you can only beat it by out-planning it - usually by creating two threats it can't block at once.

How does the difficulty change as I progress?

Two things ramp together: the board size and how far ahead the AI looks. Early Berry and Citrus levels use a comfortable 7x6 board against a rival that only thinks one or two moves ahead. By Mint and Ocean the board widens to 8x7 and the search deepens, and Galaxy faces you with a five-move-deep planner that sees your traps coming. The goal stays four in a row throughout - only the board and the brain get bigger.

What happens if I lose or the board fills up?

Nothing harsh. If the rival connects four first, you get a gentle 'Aw, so close!' card with an encouraging line and a Retry button that restarts the same level - no clear is recorded and the next level stays as it was. If the whole board fills with no line, that's a draw, and you get the same friendly Retry. You can attempt a level as many times as you like.

Is there an endless mode, and how is it different from the 20 levels?

Yes. Clear all 20 curated levels and an endless mode unlocks that starts right at the hardest setting rather than resetting to easy - the biggest board and full AI strength from the very first endless round. As the round number climbs, the AI's search depth keeps ramping higher and the board can grow wider, so the rival just keeps getting sharper for as long as you want to keep playing.

Does Mochi Four save my progress, and is it really free?

It saves which levels you've cleared and your stars locally on your own device, so it reopens at your highest unlocked level. It does not save a half-finished board - stepping away reloads that level fresh. It's completely free, runs instantly in any browser on phone, tablet, or desktop with no download, and every cleared level always awards three stars.