Complete the fourth side of a box to claim it — and take another turn. Most boxes when every line is drawn wins. Bigger boards on higher difficulty.
Dots & Boxes is the classic pencil-and-paper game on a grid of dots. You and the AI take turns drawing one line between two adjacent dots. Complete the fourth side of a box and you claim it — and you get another turn. Whoever claims the most boxes when all lines are drawn wins.
Dots and Boxes was first described in 1889 by French mathematician Édouard Lucas under the name La Pipopipette. It's a deceptively deep combinatorial game — modern computers can solve only modestly-sized boards. The double-cross technique was popularized by mathematician Elwyn Berlekamp's 2000 book The Dots and Boxes Game: Sophisticated Child's Play.
How do I play Dots & Boxes? Click between two adjacent dots to draw a line. Whoever completes the fourth side of a box claims it and gets another turn. Most boxes wins.
Is Dots & Boxes free? Yes — no signup, no downloads, no installs.
What's the trick to winning? Avoid completing the third side of any box (it hands your opponent the easy claim), and learn the double-cross.
Does my record save? Yes — your wins, losses, and streak are stored locally in your browser.