The game was first solved by James Dow Allen (October 1, 1988), and independently by Victor Allis (October 16, 1988).[13] Allis describes a knowledge-based approach,[14] with nine strategies, as a solution for Connect Four. Allen also describes winning strategies[15][16] in his analysis of the game. At the time of the initial solutions for Connect Four, brute-force analysis was not deemed feasible given the game's complexity and the computer technology available at the time.