If you don’t know what Connect-4 is all about, it is a 2-player board game, played on a 7×6 board. The players play in turn and drop pieces of their own colour (usually red and yellow) from the top of a column of the board. The pieces land on top of existing pieces, or on the bottom of the column, if there is no other piece there. The winner is the one who gets four pieces of his colour in a row, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
One day I decided to make a computer version of Connect-4. The computer playing algorithms that I came up with did not play a very challenging game (AI programming is a terra incognita for me), so I searched around the net and I found an already developed public domain algorithm by Keith Pomakis. With this, ‘tessera’, my version of Connect-4, was born.”
Another thing that really makes Tessera enjoyable for me is how it manages to stay interesting even after playing it multiple times. Many games feel repetitive after a while, but here, the experience still feels fresh because of the small details and different ways you can approach the gameplay. As you continue playing, you naturally start improving and understanding the mechanics better, which makes everything feel more rewarding. I also appreciate the balance the game maintains—it’s not too difficult, but it’s not too easy either. You can play it casually for a short break or spend longer sessions without getting bored. That flexibility is one of the biggest reasons why I keep coming back to Tessera. Overall, it’s the kind of game that doesn’t just entertain you for a moment, but actually gives you a consistently enjoyable experience every time you play.
