Dots and Boxes

About this game

Dots and Boxes is the game everybody played in the back of an exercise book, and it is far deeper than the two rules it is made of. Take turns drawing one line between two neighbouring dots. Whoever draws the fourth side of a square claims it, writes their initial in it, and immediately goes again. When the grid is full, the player holding the most boxes wins. The first half of a game looks like nothing is happening. Both players fill in lines that give nothing away, the grid slowly divides itself into corridors, and then the safe moves run out. From that moment the game is about who is forced to hand over the first corridor — because the player who opens one gives away every box in it, and the player who eats it has to open the next one. The way out of that trap is the trick this game is really about. Faced with a long run of boxes, a strong player takes all of them except the last two, then deliberately plays the line that hands those two over in a single move. Two boxes given up buys the obligation to open the next corridor, and on a five-by-five grid that trade wins games by a distance. Learning to give boxes away on purpose is the moment Dots and Boxes stops being a doodle and starts being a game. The computer opponent here plays that trade. Easy takes every box it is offered and never looks past it, which is exactly how most people play. Hard counts the corridors, works out who is going to be left holding the pen, and will refuse boxes to keep you on opening duty. It is not a matter of searching deeper — a deeper search that always grabs a free box loses to the same trick just as reliably. There is a genuine pass-the-device mode too. Two players, one screen, no computer involved at all: the board simply waits for whoever is up. Pick a four, five or six box grid, hand the phone across the table, and settle it properly.

Controls

Click or tap the gap between two dots to draw the line there.

Keyboard

• Arrow keys move the highlighted line around the grid.
• Enter or Space draws the highlighted line.
• N starts a new game.

Touch

• Tap between two neighbouring dots to draw that line. The nearest gap wins, so you do not have to be precise.
• In two-player mode the same board serves both players, so pass the device across when the turn indicator changes.

How to play

Draw one line per turn. Close a box and it is yours, and you go again.

Taking a turn

• Draw a single line between two neighbouring dots. Any empty gap is legal.
• If your line completes the fourth side of a box, you claim it and take another turn straight away.
• One line can complete two boxes at once. You claim both, and still only get one extra turn.
• If your line completes nothing, play passes to your opponent.

Winning

• The game ends when every line has been drawn.
• Whoever holds the most boxes wins. An equal split is a draw.

Modes

• Vs CPU plays you against the computer at Easy, Medium or Hard.
• Two Players is one device shared between two people, with no computer involved.
• Grids come in four, five and six boxes a side.

Read the full Dots and Boxes rules and strategy →