I can’t remember when I first got Connect 4, but I loved it. It would have either been the late 70s or the very early 80s, but I played that same game from that progressively tattier box for over a decade.
Connect 4 was such a simple idea – Two players take turns to get 4 counters of the same colour in a line. You alternate dropping yellow and red counters into a vertical (7 across by 6 high) grid. Whoever gets a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line of 4 in their colour wins.
After a winner has achieved the line of 4, and been given ample time to complete their celebratory dance, you had the task of removing all the counters from the board. You’d think that it would be a case of picking it up and tipping it, but the makers had a much more brilliant idea; the bottom of the grid had a swinging base, meaning after each game you just tilted the base and all the counters came pouring out, with an almighty crash!
The swivvley base was also great if you felt you were losing a game. You could “accidentally” catch it and watch your opponent do, what would decades later become, their “OMG” face as they watched their winning moves rapidly pour out of the device.
