Dots and Boxes is the classic free online pencil-and-paper strategy game, recreated to play in your browser against the computer with no download and no sign-up. Players take turns drawing lines between dots on a grid, and whoever completes the fourth side of a box claims it.
Behind its simple rules lies genuine tactical depth, especially the art of the "double-cross" sacrifice in the endgame. Easy, Medium and Hard settings give the computer a sharper grasp of chain strategy, so winning on Hard takes real foresight.
Dots and Boxes has a surprisingly distinguished pedigree. The French mathematician Édouard Lucas — the same man who invented the Tower of Hanoi — published it in 1889 under the name la pipopipette. A century later the game caught the attention of Berkeley mathematician Elwyn Berlekamp, whose book Dots and Boxes: Sophisticated Child's Play showed that this schoolroom doodle hides deep combinatorial game theory, including a parity rule that decides who will be forced to open the first long chain.
That chain battle is the real game. Strong players count the chains forming on the board and steer the parity in their favour, because whoever must open the first long chain usually loses the endgame. Combined with the double-cross sacrifice — giving up two boxes to keep control — these ideas turn a game most people learn with pencil and paper into a genuine test of foresight.
Claim more boxes than your opponent. Complete the fourth side of a box to capture it, and own the majority of boxes on the grid when every line has been drawn.
Click or tap the empty edge between two dots to draw a line. Whenever your line completes a box, you claim it and take another turn immediately, so capturing boxes can let you chain several moves in a row.
Each completed box is worth one point and is marked with your colour or initial. The player with the most boxes once the whole grid is filled wins; a tie is possible on even grids.
Early on, avoid drawing the third side of any box, since that hands your opponent a free capture. Master the double-cross: in long chains, decline the last two boxes of a chain to force your opponent to open the next one, keeping control of the endgame.
How do you win Dots and Boxes?
Complete more boxes than your opponent by claiming the fourth side of each box across the grid.
Do I get an extra turn for completing a box?
Yes. Completing a box lets you go again, which is how you chain multiple captures.
Is it free to play?
Yes, play free against the computer in your browser with no download or sign-up.
More classic games: Tic-Tac-Toe, Gomoku, Sim, Nine Men's Morris, Four in a Row, and all 100 free games.