Connect. Eject. Protect.

Everyone already knows how to play Connect Four. Nobody expects to be allowed to knock the other player's pieces out of the tree. Owls and squirrels are fighting over the hollows of a towering acacia, and the quickest way to settle an argument is to shove your rival out of one.

That would be chaos, except pieces are expensive. Losing one hurts, because putting it back costs you, so every attack is a calculated risk rather than a reflex. Two players who both understand this stop swinging wildly and start circling each other, and a game about four in a row turns into an arms race.

Five minutes to teach, twenty to play, and built for people who like Hex, TwixT and Go: players who want the clarity of a classic abstract with something a lot sharper underneath.