Pocket Games
Orbit Four
Orbit Four is four in a row on a 4×4 board with one extra rule: after every piece, everything turns one step. The square you place on is not the square you end up on, and a line can be completed during your opponent’s turn.
The rules
The board is 4 squares by 4, split into two rings: the edge, with 12 squares, and the centre, with 4. Each player has eight pieces of their colour.
Players take turns placing a piece on an empty square, and straight after that the board rotates: every piece moves one square anticlockwise along its own ring. On the edge that is one square; in the centre it is a quarter turn.
Whoever lines up four pieces horizontally, vertically or diagonally wins, but the check comes after the rotation: what counts is where the pieces end up, not where you put them. If a rotation gives a line to both players, the game is a draw.
When all sixteen pieces are on the board and nobody has won, the board turns by itself up to five times, checking after each turn. If there is still no four in a row, it is a draw.
The idea comes from Orbito, a recent board game. The rule here is simplified: you do not move one of your opponent’s pieces before placing your own.
On Pocket Games
The pieces are orange and blue, the centre has a lighter background than the edge, and small arrows show which way the board turns. After each move you see the pieces slide round, and a white dot marks the one just placed. You play by tapping a square; in the browser you click with the mouse, and there are no keyboard controls. There are two modes:
- Against the bot, at three levels. Each game draws lots for your colour and for who starts.
- Two players on the same phone, passing it over every turn. Here too the first move is decided at random.
| Level | How the bot plays |
|---|---|
| Easy | takes four in a row if the next rotation hands it one, otherwise places at random |
| Medium | looks at its move and your reply: it wins if it can and avoids handing you an easy win |
| Hard | looks 6 moves ahead; once nine or fewer squares are free, it calculates the game to the very end, final spins included |
At the top you can see how many pieces each player still has in hand; under the board, whose turn it is or how far the final spins have got.
- Statistics. Wins, draws and losses against the bot are counted separately for each level and shown on the start screen. Two-player games do not count.
- Resuming. The game is saved after every move, two-player games included: if you leave, the start screen offers it again.
- No undo. Every piece you place stays in play.
Play where the piece will land
The first habit to lose is looking at the square you are placing on. The piece moves straight away, and so do all the others, yours included. The board that matters is the one after the turn: before you tap, picture where every piece will end up.
This leads to something that catches everyone out at first: you can win with a piece placed on the far side of the board, because it is the rotation that completes a line you already had nearly ready.
The centre never runs away
The four centre squares turn among themselves and never leave the centre. Each one lies on three lines: a row, a column and a diagonal. On the edge, only the corners lie on three lines; the other squares lie on two, and an edge piece passes through a corner only one turn in three.
Two things worth remembering:
- two neighbouring pieces in the centre are always on the same middle row or column, which changes with every turn;
- two opposite pieces in the centre are always on a diagonal, first one and then the other.
That is why the centre gets taken early, and why the bot looks at it first too.
Lines along the edge
On the edge the pieces move in single file. Four consecutive pieces of your colour make a complete side only when they sit exactly between two corners, and that happens one turn in three: on the next turn the first one rounds the corner and the line breaks.
So on the edge you do not think in rows but in chains: count how many pieces you have one behind the other, and when they will line up along a side.
The threat that arrives with the turn
This is the real difference from classic four in a row. The rotation moves your opponent’s pieces too, and it happens after your move: if their pieces form a line after the next rotation, you have lost, and where you place yours makes no difference. The only way out is to complete a line of your own on the same turn, which makes it a draw.
A threat like that cannot be stopped at the last moment: you have to see it a turn earlier. Look at the board two turns ahead, yours and theirs. If in that position they are one square short of a line, put a piece of yours that will arrive on it after two steps. In the centre, two steps is half a turn: the opposite square.
Full board: the final spins
With sixteen pieces down nothing more is decided by the players, but the game is not over: the board still turns up to five times. Since the turns are always the same, the ending can be worked out. In the last few moves it pays to ask not only who has a line now, but who will have one after one, two or three turns.
Common mistakes
- Placing by the square instead of the landing spot. It is the mistake in almost every first game.
- Forgetting your own pieces. They move too: a line you have now can be broken by your own turn.
- Leaving the centre to your opponent. Their pieces in the centre stay dangerous for the whole game.
Frequently asked questions
Can you win during the other player’s turn?
Yes. Four in a row is checked after every turn, and every turn moves all the pieces: if the rotation after your opponent’s move completes a line of yours, you win. If it completes one for each of you, it is a draw.
Is the bot unbeatable?
On hard, from the middle of the game onwards it makes no mistakes, because it calculates everything to the end. In the opening moves it only sees six moves ahead: that is where you build your advantage, above all by taking the centre.
Who moves first?
A draw decides it, every game. Against the bot your colour is drawn as well.
Do my statistics carry over to another phone?
No. Wins, draws and losses stay on the device you played on and are not synced with your account.
More games to try
See the full list of games, or open Pocket Games in your browser: they are free and you don’t need an account.