Gimme 4 is a version of Connect 4. Why I keep reprogramming this game on different platforms, I have no idea. It's probably because it is a good fun game and more colourful and interesting than tic tac toe. It's also a fairly simple program and provides a good base for learning new programming environments. Anyway, the mainframe and PC versions are available for download.

I first programmed Gimme 4 in 1983 using CBM Basic on the VIC 20 microcomputer. The graphics of the VIC were ideal for this type of program and the finished game was good enough for publication in the Christmas edition of Home Computing Weekly. The VIC release had no game logic and was two player only, but it did have a new twist - the counter could be dropped in any direction. It was for this reason, and copyright of course, that it was known as 'Floating Four'.

In 1991, I wrote the mainframe version using Rexx and Xedit running under IBM/VM. This version uses the recent VM windowing feature but this is not essential. It also includes game logic and can be played by one person against the computer. In fact there is no two player option at all. You may download the mainframe version as a self-extracting text file (26K). Once downloaded, running the file will extract the text file to directory c:gimme4 which can then be transferred to the mainframe. Gimme 4 requires a 7 colour 3270 display with APL character set.

The PC version of Gimme 4 arrived in 1997, written in Visual Basic and running under Access 95 although it doesn't actually use any files. Visual Basic is fairly similar to Rexx in its structure and the logic routines were fairly easily ported across. The graphics routines, however, differ wildly and had to be completely redesigned. The end result is a far better looking product but with exactly the same game logic and still no two player option. You may download the PC version as a self-extracting Access database (77K). Once downloaded, running the file will extract the mdb file to directory c:gimme4 which can then be loaded directly into Access 95.