# Dots and Boxes — close the square

- From: Dots and Boxes, a pencil-and-paper game first published in 1889
- Players: 2 players
- Time: 5–8 min
- Made by: Édouard Lucas, French mathematician; first published in the 19th century as la pipopipette

Made with boardgameBuilder 0.14.4. To design from it, open boardgameBuilder and choose Open game: its blocks go on the canvas, and the feelings are left for you to pick.

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.

## 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.

## What you need

- paper
- a pen each

## How to play

1. **Dots.** Draw a square of 4 by 4 dots. That makes 9 boxes.
2. **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.
3. **Close a box.** If your line closes the fourth side of a box, write your initial in it and draw another line.
4. **Keep going.** You can close several boxes in a row, drawing again after each one.
5. **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?

## Where the rules are written down

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dots_and_boxes
- https://web.ma.utexas.edu/users/smmg/archive/2008/gameboard.pdf

## Its blocks

- Victory condition: most points
- Player interaction: indirect via board
- Chance or skill: mostly skill
- Theme: abstract
- Information visibility: full information
- Timing: take turns

## Saved state

boardgameBuilder reads this part back when the file is opened.

```json
{"mechanics": {"victory-condition": "most-points", "player-interaction": "indirect-via-board", "chance-skill": "mostly-skill", "information": "full-information", "theme": "abstract", "timing": ["take-turns"]}, "chosenFeelings": [], "previousMechanics": {}, "previousFeelings": [], "turnNumber": 0, "locked": false, "turnHistory": [], "answers": {}, "tests": {}}
```