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October 17

When and Why did the board game Connect Four change to yellow discs?

As far as I can remember, it's always been red and black with a yellow board. Now I've suddenly come across red and yellow being the norm, on a blue board and I can't find anybody anywhere discussing the change. The S (talk) 02:38, 17 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

It's always been red and yellow on blue, as far as I can remember, although there are other variations around the Web. Our article Connect 4 includes three images with those colours, with one dating back to 2008, and another to 2011. Rojomoke (talk) 06:01, 17 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, you are right and the OP is wrong. There may be unofficial variants in the wild, but the official Milton Bradley game has always been red and yellow on blue. --Viennese Waltz 07:09, 17 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

^{[citation needed]} (EC with below).

Either Walmart sold a stupid fake which uses the official trademarks but an incorrectly coloured game, the photo of the game on the packaging is wrong or been modified, or the claim official variants of Connect Four are always red and yellow with blue board simply isn't right [1]. The description in Walmart calls it 'tactile' which I presume means it's for those with a significant visual impairment. And source enough a search for 'Connect Four tactile' finds other places with the same thing [2] [3] [4]. Actually most results I find seem to be that colour including some which I'm not sure are even official [5] (but maybe it is [6]) and others which don't look to be the actual board rather than just the packaging [7]. There is this weird one [8] (we well as the earlier linked [9]) but I'd note the description suggests possibly it's just the packaging and this variant also follows the normal colour option for the tactile variant.

And I don't believe this is exclusive to the tactile variant of the official game anyway. For starters, the actual box images don't seem to be the tactile variant as neither piece has a hole. I'm also seeing a lot of other results which I'm not convinced involved the tactile variant e.g. [10] although many of those are only the packaging so it's difficult to say what the board itself is. (One big problem is while it's easy to find yellow variants, it's difficult to know if they are official unless perhaps you find a very high resolution or the same page has both the box and the board.) Notably looking in eBay, I find many vintage ones which I'm fairly sure aren't tactile which have the yellow board colour scheme on the box with a clearly visible Milton Bradley logo (and quite a few you can see on the actual board rather than just going by the box) [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]. While a number of these are from after Milton Bradley was purchased by Hasbro (some including their logo too), a number are labelled as from being before 1984.

It's possible this is a Europe/North America thing. On eBay I seem to get a lot more yellow board vintage variants compared to blue from the US whereas the UK is the opposite. Also the vintage variants which are yellow are generally Connect Four whereas the blue ones are Connect 4. (To be clear, I'm referring only to stuff with a Milton Bradley logo on the packaging.) I also noticed that the yellow Connect Four generally seem to have "Made in USA" or similar on the front of the box, but the blue board Connect 4 generally don't. (Maybe I should add besides the earlier linked Canadian Connect Four Puissance 4 which is yellow [21], I also find this Greek Σκορ 4 Connect 4 which is blue [22].)

It does seem to me that with the possible exception of the tactile version and some other odd but official versions, new official ones are blue board. At least I haven't found any ordinary recent one with a yellow board (bearing in mind though what I said above I'm mostly going by the packaging images). But there are some recent official, travel-like variants which are yellow board e.g. [23] (which appears to be 2009) or later and maybe this [24] which claims to be new but with no info I can see from whether it's recent. There's also these official versions with additional branding [25] and [26] both of which seem to be recent albeit not following either colour scheme.

Mind you I'm not certain the tactile versions haven't adopted the blue board colour scheme either. As said, some of the boxes have although the small number of photos I found with actual tactile boards (i.e. with holes in the pieces) all seem to be yellow board.

BTW, I noticed our article uses this source "The Complete Book of Connect 4: History, Strategy, Puzzles. Sterling Publishing Company". I wouldn't be surprised if it provides a lot more info on the colour scheme history. At the very least it may provide more info on the trademark Connect 4 vs Connect Four issue (e.g. if it's true the former is for Europe or at least the UK but the later is for Canada.)

Nil Einne (talk) 10:48, 17 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

This is a history of the game - [27] and this shows images of several variants - [28] and labels the red and yellow on a blue board as the original Connect 4. It does make the point that the game, under different names, existed long before Milton Bradley started marketing it in 1974, so the OP could have been using an older version. However, an image search also shows plenty of examples with black and red counters and a yellow board (and even an MB logo - [29]), and also posh versions with wooden counters and frame. Wymspen (talk) 10:07, 17 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I am reminded of the game Rummikub, which only has 4 colors of tiles, yet no matter which 4 they use, 2 of them always seem close together, like yellow-orange and orange, or red-orange and red, or blue-green and green, or dark blue and black. One example (grey and black ?): [30]. Here's another (red and orange): [31]. You'd think they could find 4 colors with both different frequency and also distinct darkness levels, for the colorblind. StuRat (talk) 15:21, 17 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Viennese Waltz. You are incorrect. I had the first US version in the 1970s: [32], [33], [34], [35], [36]. Hasbro 2010's re-issue has the blue / red-yellow. Maineartists (talk) 17:40, 20 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

OP must have grown up in the 80’s in the US. I did as well and distinctly remember what he describes. A quick google image search verified this. (Google: connect four 80’s) and check the images. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:4e50:72f0:fdeb:d46b:2935:e0e9 (talk) 18:45, 20 January 2018‎ (UTC)[reply]

OP is correct. The popular 80's commercial [37] of the official MB version that is indelibly burned into my mind starts "Go for it red! Go for it black!" LlamaScout (talk) 20:30, 8 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]