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    <p>Some time ago, I also used Connect 4 as an example for a minimaxing algorithm and experimented with the trade-off between evaluation function and search depth. I found to my surprise that you could achieve pretty reasonable play (for this game) with almost no search but a strong heuristic for the evaluation function. This seemed to perform much better than a weak heuristic for the evaluation function and a deep search. </p> <p>Getting 4 in a row is the winning condition for the game, so to achieve that you first have to achieve either 3 in a row (vertically, horizontally or diagonally) or a pattern like O-OO or OO-O (horizontally or diagonally). The more of these 'potential 4s in a row' the higher the evaluation score should be. Smaller scores can be contributed to the evaluation function by getting 2 in a row. Also it is an advantage to place your counter towards the center of the board as there is greater potential to form a line of 4, so an evaluation function should also reward counters that are close to the center. Other refinements are also possible based on the state of play.</p> <p>For example, an important consideration is that you can force a win if you have two of these potential winners next to each other in the same column of the board. You can force your opponent to block the first one and then win by playing your stone above it in that same column.</p> <p>If your evaluation function encodes these kinds of ideas then you should get some reasonable play when combined with mini-maxing.</p>
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    1. COHow about that: For every potential 4-in-a-row on the board (not obstructed by enemy pieces), assign some score according to how many own pieces are still missing. Sum all those values. I think that captures (and maybe generalizes) what you are explaining. It includes bonus for center positions implicitly.
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    2. COYes, I like the way you're thinking. Probably has the same results as what I suggested, but your description captures it more elegantly. Might still be worth including the forced-win-down-a-column heuristic so that adjacent potential 4s-in-a-row are given a higher evaluation than separate ones, although even without it as part of the evaluation function, I think the mini-maxing should be capable of discovering it and acting on it as a winning sequence of moves, should it occur.
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    3. COI was thinking the same. :)
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