Dots & Boxes
Draw a line between two dots and close a box. Close one and you go again.
- Players
- 2–4
- Length
- ~10 min
- Genre
- Abstract strategy
Dots & Boxes looks like something from the back of a school notebook and turns out to be arithmetic. The board is a grid of dots, and a turn is one line between two neighbours. That is the entire rulebook.
Close a box and it is yours — and you go again. So one good line can run into a chain of a dozen boxes, and one careless line hands the same chain to your rival.
Everything else grows from that. For most of the match both sides play where no box is nearly finished, and the real contest is over who runs out of safe moves first.
How to play
- 1Create a room, pick a board size, and send friends the link or the six-character code.
- 2On your turn draw one line between two neighbouring dots, across or down.
- 3Close a box and it takes your colour — and you go again.
- 4One line can close two boxes at once, and both are yours.
- 5Think before drawing a third side of a box: your rival takes it on their next turn.
- 6The match ends when every line is drawn. Most boxes wins.
Highlights
- Two to four players in one room
- Board from 3x3 up to 8x8 boxes
- Lines and boxes take the colour of whoever claimed them
- Turn timer, configurable when the room is created
- Perfect information: nothing to peek at, it is all on the board
Tactics and tips
- Count safe moves, not boxes. The winner is whoever still has a move when the other has none.
- You will have to give a chain away eventually — give away a short one and save the long chains for the end.
- The double cross: close a long chain but leave its last two boxes, and your rival must open the next one.
- Watch the parity. Safe moves run out differently on an odd board than an even one, and that decides who opens first.
- With four players a chain falls to whoever reaches it on their turn, so watch whose turn you are setting up.
Common mistakes
- Grabbing the first box on offer and paying for it with a chain three times longer.
- Drawing a third side of a box simply because a move had to be made somewhere.
- Forgetting that closing a box grants another turn, and counting the match in turns rather than chains.
- Taking a chain down to its last box instead of leaving two and handing back the initiative.
Frequently asked questions
How many players do I need?
Two to four. Two makes a calculating game; four is livelier, because a chain falls to whoever happens to reach it.
Can I draw diagonally?
No. A line joins two neighbouring dots across or down, never corner to corner.
What if one line closes two boxes?
Both are yours and you still go again. It is the best move in the game.
Can a match be drawn?
Yes, on level boxes. A board with an odd number of boxes cannot be drawn between two players.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs in the browser on desktop and mobile, and an account is optional.