Dots and boxes

How to play

The board

• The board is a grid of six by six dots, with twenty-five boxes between them.
• No lines are drawn when you start.

Taking a turn

• You draw one line between two dots that sit next to each other.
• Lines go across or up and down, never diagonally.
• Any line not yet drawn is a legal move, wherever it is.

Claiming a box

• Drawing the fourth side of a box claims it, and your initial goes in it.
• Claiming a box gives you another turn straight away.
• In one turn you can claim a whole chain of boxes, because each box earns you the next move.
• A single line can close two boxes at once when it sits between them.

Winning

• The game ends when every line on the grid has been drawn.
• Whoever claimed more boxes wins.
• Twenty-five boxes is an odd number, so this game cannot be drawn.