PlayRoom

Strategy game

Dots and Boxes

Draw a line. Close a box. Go again.

The classic pencil-and-paper game with live scores, chains and sacrifices, grids from 3×3 to 7×7 dots and four bot levels.

2 players3×3 to 7×7 dotsBest of 1, 3 or 5Four bot levels
A grid of dots with blue and red lines and claimed boxes

What is Dots and Boxes?

Two players take turns drawing a line between two neighbouring dots. Draw the fourth side of a box and it is yours, and you draw again. When every line is drawn, the player with more boxes wins.

The server holds the board and checks every move. Nobody can play out of turn, and a move that arrives twice is played once.

How to play

Six steps from an empty room to a rematch.

  1. 01

    Take a seat

    Two seats, Blue and Red. Anyone else in the room watches.

  2. 02

    Pick the rules

    Classic 5×5 dots, Quick 4×4, Grand 7×7, or your own grid.

  3. 03

    Draw a line

    On your turn tap a line between two dots. Tapping near it is enough.

  4. 04

    Claim boxes

    Complete a box's fourth side to claim it. You draw again after every box.

  5. 05

    Plan the chains

    Avoid giving a box its third side. When nobody has a safe move left, the long chains decide the game.

  6. 06

    Count the boxes

    When the last line is drawn, more boxes wins. Equal boxes is a draw.

Rules

What the server does.

The grid
  • The grid has 3 to 7 rows and columns of dots, so 2×2 up to 6×6 boxes.
  • Completing one line can claim two boxes at once.
Turns
  • Claiming one or two boxes means you draw again. If you did not claim a box, the turn passes.
  • The last line always ends the game.
Winning
  • The player with more boxes wins the game. Equal boxes is a draw.
  • In a best-of series the first to win most of the games takes the match.
The clock
  • With a turn clock, if time runs out the server plays a safe move for you.
  • Miss three turns in a row and you lose the match.

Settings

The host sets these in the lobby before the game starts. They are fixed once it begins.

Rules

Classic 5×5 dotsQuick 4×4 dotsGrand 7×7 dotsCustom

Rows and columns of dots

34567

Completed boxes

ColourColour and initial

Match

Single gameBest of 3Best of 5

Who starts

RandomFirst seatSecond seatAlternate

Turn clock

Off15 s30 s60 s90 s2 min

Playing a bot

Play a bot at Easy, Medium, Hard or Smart. Bots sit in a normal seat and see only what you see. Games against a bot are unranked and do not count toward stats. Smart counts chains and loops and solves the endgame exactly when few lines are left.

Watching

Everyone else in the room watches live: the board, whose turn it is, the score and every move.

Ready to play?

Start a room, invite a friend, or play a bot.