Connect Four: It's Like Tic, Tac, Toe, but More Hardcore!

Hello again, and welcome to Frankly Speaking, my column about stuff. I was thinking the other day, and the thought occurred to me that the commercials for Connect Four didn't reflect the actual game at all. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that there were children, who were disappointed to find this out. I mean, the commercial had these cartoon checkers duking it out to see who'd fit into the slot first, and when the red checker won, knocking the black checker over the side, the four reds in a row would high-five each other over a job well-done. This is probably why they added a disclaimer that the pieces do not move on their own in the later years of the commercial.

When I stop to think, I have to wonder what exactly the designer was thinking with this game: "I like tic, tac, toe. I should make a board game, but I want to make it my own. I know! I'll change the rules, so you have to get four in a row, instead of three! And you have to use checkers! Now, I just need a name . . . "

I can even see him trying to pass it off in a board meeting. "C'mon guys! It's like tic, tac, toe, only more hardcore because you have to get four in a row! That's why I call it Connect Four. Yeah, that's what I call it (said with a sigh of relief because it took him this long to think up a name (well, did you really expect him to be clever enough to come up with one before the board meeting, seeing as his game is a ripoff of tic, tac, toe.))."

Well, we'll probably never know what he was actually thinking when he made that game, but we can all agree that no matter how lame he and his game are, he's probably sitting on a huge pile of money right now, and isn't that all that really matters?