What is Pop 10?
Pop 10 turns Four in a Row around. Instead of building a line on an empty grid, you start with a full one and take discs away. First the players take turns dropping discs to fill the grid one row at a time, the bottom row first, until all 42 spaces are full. Red starts. No line counts while the grid is being filled.
Then each turn you pop one of your own discs out of the bottom row, and every disc above it drops one space. If the disc you popped was part of four or more of your discs in a row, you set it aside as a point and pop again. If it was not, you drop it back in at the top of a different column that has room, and your turn ends. Only when no other column has room, as on the first turns after the grid is full, does it go back into its own column.
The first player to set aside 10 discs wins. A player with none of their discs in the bottom row cannot pop, so their turn passes to the opponent; if neither player has a disc to pop, the game is a draw. Since 42 drops alternate during the setup, Red also makes the first pop.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Four in a Row | Pop 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Standard Four in a RowThe grid starts empty. | Pop 10The players take turns filling the grid one row at a time, bottom row first, until it is full. Red starts. No line counts during setup. |
| Your turn | Standard Four in a RowDrop one of your discs into any column that is not full. | Pop 10Pop one of your own discs out of the bottom row; the discs above it drop one space. With none of your discs in the bottom row, your turn passes. |
| Four in a row | Standard Four in a RowFour of your discs in a row wins the game. | Pop 10A popped disc that was part of four or more of your discs in a row is set aside as a point, and you pop again. |
| Other popped discs | Standard Four in a RowNot allowed: discs never leave the grid. | Pop 10A popped disc that scored nothing goes back in at the top of another column with room, or its own column if no other has room. Your turn ends. |
| How to win | Standard Four in a RowThe first four in a row wins. A full grid without a four is a draw. | Pop 10The first player to set aside 10 discs wins. If neither player has a disc to pop, the game is a draw. |
History
Pop 10 is one of five games in a rule sheet from 2009 for a set with a PopOut bar under the grid, along with the original game, PopOut, 5-in-a-Row and Power Up. Its goal is to be the first to collect 10 checkers.
The rules present Pop 10 as a good game to play when the set has been stored with the checkers still in the grid; if the grid is empty, the players take turns dropping in their checkers, completing one row at a time. When the grid is full, each player in turn pops out one of their own checkers from the bottom row. A checker that was part of four in a row is won and kept, and the player keeps popping as long as the popped checkers are part of four. Any other popped checker goes back in at the top of the grid, but not into the column it came from, and the rules note that on the first couple of turns this may not be possible, so the checker goes into any available slot.