Dots and Boxes Dots and Boxes (also known as Boxes, Squares,
Paddocks, Pigs in a Pen, Square-it, Dots and Dashes, Dots, Smart
Dots, Dot Boxing, or, simply, the Dot Game) is a pencil and
paper game for two players (or sometimes, more than two) first
published in 1889 by Édouard Lucas. Starting with an empty grid
of dots, players take turns, adding a single horizontal or
vertical line between two unjoined adjacent dots. A player who
completes the fourth side of a 1×1 box earns one point and takes
another turn. (The points are typically recorded by placing in
the box an identifying mark of the player, such as an initial).
The game ends when no more lines can be placed. The winner of
the game is the player with the most points. The board may be of
any size. When short on time, 2×2 boxes (created by a square of
9 dots) is good for beginners, and 5×5 is good for experts. The
diagram on the right shows a game being played on the 2×2 board.
The second player (B) plays the mirror image of the first
player's move, hopi