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The Connect Four board is 7x6, as opposed to 8x8, 16x16, or even 4x4. Is there a specific, mathematical reason for this? The reason I'm asking is because I'm developing a program that will be able to generate Connect $N$ boards, for any given number. At first I assumed that the board size was 2n by 2n, but then I realized it's 7x6. What's going on here?

P.S.: Forgive me if my question tags are incorrect; I'm not quite sure what this falls under.

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    So it has something to do with having an even number of columns, and not making the game be able to be easily drawn, but fair to both players, then?2012-04-26

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So it seems that a 7x6 board was chosen because it's "the smallest board which isn't easily shown to be a draw". In addition, it was also speculated that there should probably be an even amount of columns. Therefore, it seems that the dimensions of a Connect $N$ board are a function of $N$. I see two possible functions:

N.B.: I'm not sure if there's a rule about the numbers being consecutive, but I'm assuming that that is the case here.

Times 1.5 function pseudo-code:

column_height = N * 1.5; If column_height is an even number:     row_height = N + 1; Otherwise (if column_height is an odd number):     column_height = (N * 1.5) + 1; //truncate the decimal portion of (N * 1.5) before adding one     row_height = column_height + 1; 

Add 3 function psuedo-code:

column_height = N + 3 If column_height is an even number:     row_height = N + 2; Otherwise (if column_height is an odd number):     column_height =  N + 4;     row_height = N + 3; 

The first one seems more likely, but since I'm trying to generate perfectly mathematically balanced game boards and there doesn't seem to be any symmetry that I can see, I'm still not sure. Does this seem about right?

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    I will accept this as the answer and use this as my solution unless a better one presents itself.2012-04-26