Dots and boxes

Number of players

2-2

Recommended age

7+

Competition type
all vs. all
Playing time

3-10 min

Difficulty

Normal

Cost or investment
Free

Quick intro to the game

In Dots and Boxes players join dots trying to create as many squares as possible.

Table Of Contents
  1. How to play "Dots and boxes"
  2. Game over – who takes the crown??

How to play “Dots and boxes”

Set up

icon players

Players

2 to 4 players. 5 years and older

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What you need to play

Pen and paper. If possible, use different colored markers for each player, although it is not essential.

logo tic tac toe layout

The board

A square mesh of dots is drawn on the paper. How many? For two players minimum 3×3, increasing one more point for each additional player (4×4 for 3 players…)

If you have graph paper you can use the vertices of the squares as dots.

ico order

Who’s first?

The player with the least experience playing “Points and Boxes” starts.

Goal of the game

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Objective

The objective of Dots and Boxes is to create squares. Whoever creates more squares wins the game.

“Dots and boxes” rules: playing a game

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This is how a shift is played

El jugador que tiene el turno dibuja una linea que unirá dos puntos contiguos en horizontal o vertical, no vale en diagonal. A continuación pueden pasar dos cosas:

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Does not create a square

If that line, together with others already drawn by any player, does not complete a square, the turn ends and passes to the player on the left.

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Creates a square

If that line, together with three others already drawn by any player, closes a square, the player scores the point by writing his initial in the center, and continues playing, being able to chain several squares in a row.

Game over – who takes the crown??

icon winner

And the winner is…

The game ends when no more lines can be drawn. The winner is the player who has managed to create the most squares.

LOODENS rating

Whoever is bored is because they want to be: this game only requires a piece of paper and a couple of colored pencils to offer a good time of fun. When the classic “Tic-tac-toe” gets boring, it’s time to try “Dots and Boxes”.

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