Keith, the big winner, warming up. (Sorry you look kinda weird in this photo dude but we're not so good with the red-eye-removal tool).

If you were there, then you may recall the chill in the room as Keith Sanders, from his spot in front of the World’s Largest Connect Four board, beat fiction blogger Constantine Markides in a slick five moves during Game 2 of the Connect Four championship last night. The masses chanted, they wanted more, perhaps there was a way! But there was no doubting Constantine’s fate, when—ten moves later—Keith became the winner of the World’s Largest Connect Four Tournament, and with it, a $200 prize. It happened last night, Nov. 24, 11:15 p.m., at the Bell House.

So what happened?! You’re dying to know, so here’s the round-up: Amber (you remember her) made it to the third round last night. In her first round she beat Beth Ann, then Caitlin. This was quite a feat, because Caitlin beat Rob Schultz, who beat me last week!  Vin.Di.Ca.Ted. Thanks Amber. But then Amber succumbed to Rob Arnow, who beat me two weeks ago!! Rob then lost to Jonathan, who lost in the semis to the aforementioned Constantine.

In the other bracket, Trevor Grayson from week one (the one who informed me that Thai prostitutes are ace Connect Four players) lost to Greg Carr of week two (the one who romantically plays Connect Four in ski lodges in Vermont—the romantic part is in my own mind). In the meantime, Keith was beating Justin Smith—a match that actually went 3-1, so Keith did lose a game. I asked him if he had ever lost before, and he said “no, no I won.” I said “yes, but you lost that one. Has that ever happened before?” He didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. I guess champions can’t carry that kind of baggage. Next game, Keith beat ski-lodge Greg, then defeated Evan in the semis and the rest is history.

Dan from the Universal Record Database.

Also on hand last night were some special guests. In attendance were Dan and Rob of The Universal Record Database, a newfangled Guiness Book for the YouTube generation, who officially to marked the Bell House’s wooden creation as the World’s Largest Connect Four board. A few other records were also set: Most Checkers Stacked in the Palm of a Hand (Amber!), longest word spelled out in a Connect Four board, and my favorite: “Fastest Symmetrical Filling of a Connect Four Board Using Your Non-Dominant Hand and Non-Dominant Eye” (yours truly and Rob Blatt): 39.1 seconds, thank you very much.

So, the tournament may be over, but the competitive spirit of the games still lives on in the hearts of all the great Connect Four warriors. And just in time for that “friendly” family game night on Thanksgiving…

And guess what? For those of you us who lost the last three weeks, there’s ONE MORE CHANCE to win! The Bell House is  opening up one last chance at qualifiers tonight from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for anyone 21+ to come down and try one last time at getting into the finals.

5 p.m. – 7 p.m.: Happy Hour with $1 off all drinks + a $4 select draft

6 p.m. – 8 p.m.: One last chance for pre-qualifiers

8 p.m.: Game play for the finals brackets officially starts

And don’t forget that the Universal Record Database will be on hand to record any Connect Four records set or broken tonight. Anyone can get in on that action—invent your own crazy World Record and set it to make history tonight @ The Bell House!

The final cash prize will depend on the number of people who come to do the pre-qualifiers again. We’re holding steady right now at at least $200 cash for the winner, a $50 Bell House gift certificate for 2nd place and a $25 gift certificate for 3rd place.

See you there.  I’ll be with camera.

The author two weeks ago. How far she's fallen. Photo by Eric Reichbaum

Listen, I lost. I lost pretty bad. Not only did I lose in the competition, but also in the practice round and in the “fun” rounds after. But… Amber won!  Remember her from rounds one and two? Amber won, and my partner, Rob—he was a sweetie.

I arrived at Bell House and went up to the podium to pay my $3 and get placed with my randomly-selected defeater opponent. This week, though, the registration chick kind of just said, “play whoever you want.” I took out my wallet, and the bartender, Mitch, said “you shouldn’t even waste your money.” “Why? Are there no more singles?” I asked. “No,” Mitch replied. “I just remember you. You keep losing, right?” The evening was starting out just great.

Amber won, ever-humbly beating her husband, Robert.

So I paid, and I waited. Then I spotted Amber. She and her husband Robert had just played each other. Back in week one, they had decided this was a bad idea, but this week, I think they just shrugged to each other and said, “let’s go.” Amber won. She had dealt with her defeats, worked to better her game (thank you, online Connect Four), and it paid off.

Two friendly ladies, Chelsea Goodnight (Manhattan) and Amy Stetzel (Queens) showed up together, but they debated if they should play each other—for that would mean only ONE would make it to the championship next week. They played, on the condition that the victor, should she go on to win it all, would buy a nice dinner for the two. Chelsea won, but friendly definitely was the word of the night.

Chelsea and Amy. Post-game, still besties.

And friendly too was my eventual partner, Rob Schultz, of Manhattan, and of this web site (the NY version launches Thursday). Rob and his raspberry wheat beer were as sweet as they come. I knew I was doomed. Rob and I RPS‘ed to determine first-move, and I WON. I won, with a clean scissors slicing the shit out of his paper. And then he beat me in three quick games of C4. But it was like playing with a Disney movie grandpa; all about lessons and warmth. Before the last move of each game, Rob would kind of point with his eyes at the board and silently say “are you sure you don’t see it, Beth?” And I wouldn’t! Turns out I’m. Not. Good. At. This. Game.

My opponent, Rob, trying to act like he's not sure who's going to win.

But Rob did pass along a trick or two, which I can’t reveal, because he’s playing for the big one next week. I’m rooting for him, right after Amber. The competition will be fierce, though, with all the bigwigs (winners from rounds one, two and three) there, and without little old me providing the easy win. I’ll be there, of course—to witness, cheer and distract—things I know I can win at.

After Mitch the bartender saw that I lost, again, he gave me a beer on the house. A pity drink? Out of principle, I declined was forced to accept—Brokelyn rules of conduct, you know. ‘Til next week, then, for the crowning of Brooklyn’s Connect Four king.

Robert, my defeater.

Word has spread, competition has gotten fierce, and tonight I got my ass kicked. I already admitted I didn’t practice. But while last Tuesday was mostly light-hearted, tonight felt personal. Got that, Robert?

At the Bell House in Gowanus about 30 people gathered to compete in the world’s largest Connect Four tournament. Fewer than last Tuesday, but then again, all the winners from last week- the real die-hards- needn’t come back until the Championship Night on Nov. 24.

Robert Arnow of Park Slope beat me in three sequential games. You can play up to five, but see, if you lose those three, there’s no way to win. (If you didn’t understand that, then you definitely shouldn’t show up next week.) Rob also has a chess background, and once used a Connect Four board to keep track of which roommate had to empty the dishwasher. Though my distraction technique didn’t work on him at all, Robert deployed it on me to great effect. I told him I’m an actor/comic, and might make fun of him publicly, like, maybe for taking a really long time with each move, and he cleverly waited until I was debating a difficult checker drop to ask, “Beth… do you have a day job?”

But hearts were being broken all over the place. Crystal Heller (Bushwick) and Justin Smith (Park Slope) came together and remained friendly during their practice round. While Crystal and I chatted about bars that have games (Common Ground), she suddenly noticed that he had taken two turns. I’m not saying he cheated, but when the two were randomly paired to compete against one other, Justin won again. Not. Saying. Anything.

Crystal and Justin. Notice the distance between them.

Greg Carr (Gramercy) won tonight. He came all the way from Manhattan. Post-win, he played some unofficial rounds with Chris from the Skint, who sat out and observed during the competition (but says he’ll play next week). Greg claimed to have no specific strategy; he got into Connect Four at a Vermont ski lodge last winter.  That image almost made me fall in love with Greg right there. I was entertaining cozy images and flannel and romance, until the fantasy turned to us playing Connect Four over some hot cocoa, and his beating me at the game over and over again, and my being pissed at him, and us being stuck in this lodge…

Katie Enna (Washington Heights) and Nick Bolt (Bronx) had been practicing at the corner of the bar when I arrived at the Bell House, and after the rounds, I found them in the same corner; they never entered. They remained amicable, neither bitter. I think I convinced them to come back and play for blood next week.

Amber, smiling before her loss. She also smiles after.

Remember Amber “just-sit-still-when-you-know-you’re-gonna-win” from last week?  Well, she lost last week, but, like a gymnast who falls off the high bar, she was back tonight. She lost again. I’m telling you: competition was fierce! And she had been practicing, on a web site whose name I would tell you, except it might give you an advantage. Even if it didn’t give her one.

So, next Tuesday, I’m wearing sunglasses, to psyche out the competition. We’ll see what Amber, Nick, Katie, Chris and Crystal bring. It’s the last chance to be entered to the championship round, where there is a huge cash prize, maybe even $1,000. But at this point, we all know, it’s not about the money. It’s about pride.

These two came from Williamsburg last week, and probably won, based on their smiles.

For me, last week was just practice.  Tonight, it’s on.*

Last Tuesday, 40 people gathered to compete in the world’s biggest Connect Four tournament, happening at the the Bell House in Gowanus. Aside from the free vodka and beer specials, the people came to line up four in a row, stare their competitor in the face, and say “that’s right.”  Half succeeded.  They will be playing on November 24 for the championship, which could provide the winner with up to $1,000 (depending on the turn-outs tonight and next Tuesday.) Tonight’s a brand-new slate.  There will be losers there from last week, as well as fresh eager faces that will say “Oh my God!, I haven’t played since I was 10! I’ll totally kick your butt!**” And there will be those random people who actually have skill or math knowledge who will probably always win. It’s $3 to play. Well drinks and select beer: $4.  The chance to be Connect Four champion in two weeks?  Well… like I said … it’s $3. See you there.

*I have done nothing special, really, this week, to prepare.

**I believe this is a direct quote from me from last week.

The author, bracing for battle. Photos by Eric Reichbaum.

The World Series is at 3-2.  Brett Favre just beat his old teammates on their home turf. And last night, 18 people saw victory over a seven-column, six-row vertically-suspended grid. The “game” we now refer to as Connect Four is centuries old, when Captain Hook used to play it so often with his fellow mates it was coined “Captain’s Mistress.” Well, last night was surely an affair to remember.

The checkers are no longer red and black like the Milton Bradley version most of us remember from our youth. They are now a cheery red and yellow. The Grid isn’t yellow anymore, it’s blue. Get over it, because it’s over you. The rules haven’t changed—get four of your color in a row, whether it be vertical, horizontal or diagonal. Let your opponent do so and you lose.

At the Bell House around 6:30 p.m., 40 challengers gathered to play practice rounds and scope out their competition before the real rounds began at 7. Heather D, the coordinator of the tournament, insisted that I enter. It suddenly became more than just a “blog post” to me. I was going to win this bitch. The last time a Connect Four board was in front of me I was being baby-sat—but last night no one was looking out for me.

Opponents were to be chosen randomly by Bell House staff; anyone at this place could have been my rival. I attempted to gather tactics from the nervous contenders. Beth Ann Coulton and Jeff Ciprioni (both of Williamsburg) employed a haughty laugh when asked how seriously they were competing. Their air of cool indifference chilled me to the bone, so I practiced it in the bathroom. Erin Watts of Gowanus told me she once beat someone in four moves, and “they weren’t even a child, he was a real person.” Erik Courson (Red Hook) simply said “I’m going to win this thing. Write that down.”

Beth Ann Coulton of Williamsburg

I finally received some advice from the kindhearted-but-still-fierce Amber Marlow-Blatt (Park Slope), who said: “You want to stay really still when you know you’re going to win.” Providing coaching and support was husband Rob Blatt, who had not entered the competition; he felt it would be a “lose-lose” situation to end up across from Amber in the actual competition. He offered great advice, as a good mentor should. Rob revealed that in Connect Four, “the best defense is good offense.” The opposite of football.

The bell rang and I was announced at Table 6, across from one Desmond Eaddy. I tried to small-talk him out of focus. He came from the Upper West Side for the competition, and used to play C4 at a bar in Miami a lot. He claimed he found out about the event from the My Open Bar app on his iPhone, but I knew then that he had a Connect Four Tournament Alert App on his phone (a member’s-only app I’ve heard rumored about.)  A disadvantage for me, to be sure, but I figured that I can count and see straight, so I still had a shot.

Desmond Eaddy of the Upper West Side, our author's opponent.

After my loss, I got another drink found Erik of “write that down” and immediately addressed his downcast face. “You lost! Do you feel dumb?!” He pointed at his defeater; by the name of Keith Sanders, he drove from Midwood for the games. He didn’t have a strategy, he said. “You’re just lining up four circles. No big deal.”

But it is—it’s what-could-be a $1000 grand prize (if participation grows, says the Bell House’s Heather D.) to the winner on November 24, three weeks from last night. The winners from last night will head directly there to compete, and everyone who lost tonight is invited to try again next Tuesday and the next after that.  The 24th is purely for winners from the first three Tuesdays in November; you can’t buy your way into true victory.

Most people seemed a little disappointed that it was one-and-done last evening, as some had traveled far, and some had been employing Michael Phelps’ carb-to-protein ratio all day to prepare. But in a challenge like Connect Four, someone’s always going to be disappointed. Like Nich, down from the UWS, who had hoped Jay-Z would be in attendance. He wasn’t, but apparently Connect Four is very big in the hip hop scene. And for what it’s worth, Trevor Grayson (Financial District) informed me that in Thailand, the prostitutes are excellent Connect Four players, because that’s what they do with their down-time in the bars.

The room seethes with intense competition.

Next Tuesday is getting closer by the day. Erik isn’t sure if he’s going to return. Desmond, I heard, is flying to Toronto for a practice tourney this weekend. Keith will calmly wait until the 24th, a day labeled on his calendar as “Day of Destruction.” Taking Rob Blatt’s advice off the board and on to the table, I’m going to practice distraction techniques.   Stay tuned.