Dots and Boxes — close the square
Two players draw lines between dots. Whoever draws the fourth side of a box claims it and must draw again. For most of the game nobody wants to draw a box's third side.
From Dots and Boxes, a pencil-and-paper game first published in 1889.
What it shows a designer
A rule that lets you move again after closing a box turns a simple drawing game into one of sacrifice and long chains. It shows how one rule can create deep strategy.
Credits
- Made by
- Édouard Lucas, French mathematician; first published in the 19th century as la pipopipette
- Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dots_and_boxes
web.ma.utexas.edu/users/smmg/archive/2008/gameboard.pdf
What you need
- paper
- a pen each
How to play
- Dots. Draw a square of 4 by 4 dots. That makes 9 boxes.
- One line. Toss a coin to see who starts. Take turns drawing one line, across or down, between two dots next to each other. No diagonals.
- Close a box. If your line closes the fourth side of a box, write your initial in it and draw another line.
- Keep going. You can close several boxes in a row, drawing again after each one.
- Most boxes. When every line is drawn, whoever has more boxes wins.
After playing, talk about
- When did you start avoiding the third side of a box?
- Did you ever give boxes away on purpose?
- Who controlled the end of the game?
Its blocks
How its blocks were checked against BoardGameGeek
- Boxes: partly checkable, nothing against it. most points: not checkable. indirect via board: not checkable. mostly skill: not checkable. full information: not checkable. abstract: not checkable. take turns: not checkable.
In boardgameBuilder, Open game puts its blocks on the canvas. Changed, the same file can come back here from Propose a game.