⬜ How to play Dots and Boxes

Easy rules, to read aloud 🔊

1. Draw rows of dots, like a grid.
2. Take turns drawing one line between two dots that are next to each other.
3. Lines go across or up and down, never slanted.
4. If your line closes a box, put your mark in it, like a star.
5. Then you get another turn.
6. When all the boxes are filled, the most boxes wins.

The full rules

1. Draw a grid of dots, such as four rows of four for a quick game or six rows of six for a longer one.
2. Take turns drawing one straight line, across or up and down, between two dots that sit side by side. Lines cannot go diagonally or skip a dot.
3. If your line completes the fourth side of a small square, put your mark inside it and draw another line right away.
4. You can close several boxes in a row this way, drawing one more line after each.
5. If your line does not close a box, it is the next player's turn.
6. The game ends when every pair of neighboring dots is joined.

How to win: Count the boxes with each player's mark. The player with the most boxes wins.

Tips

• Try not to draw the third side of a box, because the next player will close it.
• Near the end, when you must give boxes away, give away the shortest chain.
• Use a different color for each player so boxes are easy to count.

What it practises

spotting patterns, planning ahead, counting, drawing straight lines.

Other ways to play

• Bigger or smaller grids. Three rows of three dots make a good first game. Bigger grids make a longer, trickier game.
• Triangles or hexagons. Lay the dots out to make triangles or hexagons, and claim those shapes instead of squares.