Robot Ric’s quantum playground · 2 players, one device
Quantum Connect Four
Drop possibilities. Measure surprises. Connect four.
A simplified educational simulation using classical randomness.
Round 1 · 1. Drop phase
Player 1: drop a chip
4 drops left this round, or until the board is full.
Player 1 starts. Use a column button above the board. Keyboard: Tab, then Enter or Space.
New games start with Player 1.
What did we measure?
0 gold ↑ · 0 coral ↓ · 0 unmeasured
50/50 describes each chip’s chances, not a promise of equal totals. Streaks can happen.
A little real physics
What’s quantum about it?
A purple chip represents an idealized qubit in an equal superposition of two outcomes. We always model measurement in the same basis, called the Z basis: one result, with a 50% chance of each. Gold ↑ and coral ↓ are game labels for those outcomes, not literal quantum colors.
Where the analogy stops
This browser game samples those probabilities with ordinary computer randomness. It doesn’t use quantum hardware or model entanglement or interference. Real superposition has phase information that can produce interference; a hidden color or a coin flip alone doesn’t capture it. The board, gravity, rounds, and winning lines are game rules.
Go deeper: states, measurement & sources
Our model is the state |+⟩ = (|0⟩ + |1⟩) / √2. The squared magnitudes of its amplitudes give 1/2 and 1/2. Each chip is independent. Measuring one does not change another chip’s probabilities. Once measured, we apply no further operations, so repeating the same ideal measurement would return the same outcome.
Other quantum states and other measurement bases can give different probabilities. In real quantum experiments, measurement is a physical interaction; it does not require a person watching.