What is Connect Four?

Connect Four is a Milton Bradley tabletop game from 1974 where two players drop colored discs into a vertical grid trying to line up four in a row, and its box art also became a recurring Photoshop meme template[2].

Where did Connect Four come from?

Hasbro's Milton Bradley launched Connect Four in February 1974, though earlier stacking games like Captain's Mistress and Four-in-a-row existed before it[1].

What does Connect Four mean?

As a meme, Connect Four refers to edited versions of the game's box cover that swap the title into a pun such as 'Connect Fuhrer' or 'Connect Flour'[2]. Urban Dictionary entries also use it as slang for hooking up four times in a row[3].

How do you use Connect Four?

The typical edit keeps the box art intact and swaps only the word 'Four' for a homophone or rhyme, letting the visual pun sell the joke[2].

Is Connect Four still popular?

The game is a classic that Hasbro sells, and box-art parodies were being collected on Reddit as late as January 2018 on /r/memeeconomy[2].

Connect Four

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Connect Four is the Milton Bradley strategy game from 1974 whose box art became a target for Photoshop editors starting in the mid-2000s. The joke swaps the title word 'Four' for a homophone or pun, giving edits like 'Connect Fuhrer' from 2009 and 'Connect Flour' from 2016.

photoshop memes exploitable templates pun memes cover art parody memes late 2000s memes

Overview

Connect Four is a two-player tabletop game where opponents take turns dropping red or yellow discs into a vertical grid, aiming to line up four of their color horizontally, vertically, or diagonally1. Hasbro sells it under the Milton Bradley label, and the plastic frame with slotted columns is the version most players grew up with2.

Online, the name refers less to the game itself and more to the running joke of remixing its packaging. Since the late 2000s, edited versions of the box, usually with the title tweaked into a homophone, kept circulating on image boards and Reddit2.

How It Spread

The meme layer began in August 2009 when Buzzfeed 2 posted a 'Connect Fuhrer' edit that gave the child on the packaging a Hitler mustache. A 'Connect Flour' edit followed on Reddit's /r/funny in March 20162. Around this time the title-swap gag became a recurring format, with variants leaning on puns, historical figures, and absurd wordplay while keeping the yellow lettering and smiling kids intact.

In August 2017, a free 'Connect One' mod appeared as a Tabletop Simulator add-on on Steam, joking about how trivial the game gets with a one-in-a-row win condition2. On January 9th, 2018, a collage of Connect Four cover parodies posted to /r/memeeconomy pulled over 800 upvotes2. The name also picked up slang uses on Urban Dictionary, where user entries treat 'connect four' as a scoring metaphor for hooking up four different times over a weekend3.

How to Use This Meme

The typical Connect Four edit keeps the box's yellow title font and the two grinning kids exactly where they are, then swaps 'Four' for a rhyming or homophonic word so the visual gag carries the punchline. Common conventions include absurd substitutions like 'Connect Flour' or shock-value ones like 'Connect Fuhrer,' where the humor comes from how little the artwork has to change2.

Frequently Asked Questions

References (3)

Connect Four

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photoshop memes exploitable templates pun memes cover art parody memes late 2000s memes