All gamesPuzzle / Free browser game

Dots and Boxes

YOUR NEXT LITTLE OBSESSION

Draw a line. Close a box. Don't hand over the chain.

Free to play · Right here in your browser
A LITTLE FRIENDLY COMPETITION

Community leaderboard

Best biggest winning margins, shared by players. Higher is better. Equal scores are ranked by fastest clear time.

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A LITTLE ABOUT THE GAME

Draw a line. Close a box. Don't hand over the chain.

Take turns drawing a line between two neighbouring dots. Draw the fourth side of a box and it's yours, and you draw again. When all 40 lines are drawn, whoever owns more of the 16 boxes wins. The trick is the third side of a box: it hands the box to whoever moves next, often with a whole chain behind it. Play a friend on the same screen, or take on the computer. Easy is relaxed, Normal never gives a box away while it has a choice, and Hard plays the endgame for control, leaving you the last two boxes of a chain when that makes you open the next one. Each level has its own Plocky leaderboard for the biggest win.

Classic 4×4 dots and boxesEasy, Normal and Hard computerBiggest-win leaderboard per levelTwo players on one screenKeyboard, touch or mouseReduced-motion friendly

Progress and preferences stay in this browser. Opening the game in another browser or device starts fresh.

How to play

Click / tap
Draw the line nearest where you tap
Arrows
Move between lines
Enter, Space
Draw the focused line
U, Ctrl+Z
Take back your last line
N
New game

Tap near a line to draw it: anywhere in the half-box beside it counts.

UP FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT?Memory Match