Dots and Boxes

Players take turns drawing one horizontal or vertical line between two adjacent dots. If your line completes the fourth side of a box, you claim that box and must draw another line. The game ends when all lines are drawn, and the player with the most boxes wins.

Early on, never draw the third side of a box, since that gives your opponent a free box. Later, the board splits into chains of boxes. When you're forced to open one, give away the shortest chain first, and count chains to try to make your opponent open the long ones.

When taking a long chain, experts sometimes stop two boxes early and draw the line that leaves those two for the opponent. The opponent takes them but then has to open the next chain, so you keep control of the game.

Yes. Every time you complete a box you move again, so you can take a whole chain of boxes in one turn, one after another.

3×3 boxes is quick and good for beginners and kids. 4×4 or 5×5 gives more room for strategy, and 6×6 makes a long, thoughtful game.

It is also known as the dot game, boxes, squares, paddocks, pigs in a pen or dots and dashes. It was first described by the French mathematician Édouard Lucas in 1889.