Ask Ollie
Dots and Boxes Tournament
Here's one to try together!
Draw a grid, claim the boxes, and outsmart your rival across three rounds of sneaky strategy!
Reviewed by our team.
Safety first
- pencils have sharp points
What you need
- Paper, 4 sheets
- Crayons or markers, 1 pencil per player, in two colors
How to do it
Grown-up prep: Give each player a sheet of paper and a pencil in their own color. Sit side by side at a table with space to draw.
- Draw a grid of dots, six dots across and six down.
- Take turns joining two neighbor dots with one line.
- Close a box by drawing its fourth side, then draw your mark inside.
- Closed a box? Take another turn right away!
- Keep playing until every box has a mark in it.
- Count your marks to find the winner of round one.
- Play round two, and try not to draw a third side!
- Draw a bigger grid for the final game and play for the title!
- Crown the champion! Then play again or challenge a friend.
Play it again
- Giant board: draw a huge grid on a big sheet and play with a team on each side.
- Speed round: each player gets only 5 seconds per line.
- Chain challenge: start with a few lines already drawn so chains show up early.
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