Dots and Boxes

Deconstructed by: Spencer Curtis

Goal of the Game: To have the most boxes of your color when all of the lines have been placed and the game ends.

Core Mechanic: The core mechanic of the game is the action of connecting two adjacent dots together with a line to eventually complete a box or a chain of boxes.

Space of the Game: The game's space is a 2-dimensional discrete grid of dots aligned in a rectangle or square no smaller than 2x2. Sub-spaces occur when a player has connected 4 lines to form a box space that is now under their possession.

Objects, Attributes, and States: The objects in this game are the lines the players make. Each line has the potential to form a box changing the state of the lines from lines to a captured space or box. Lines can also make chains, which are a series of spaces that snake along the board, that later in the game can be captured all by one player simultaneously.

Actions: The main action in this game is placing lines between two adjacent dots. Another action is capturing a box which is done by placing the fourth line onto the open side of the incomplete box. After a player has captured a box they must go again and chose another place to put a line.

Rules: The rules of this game are fairly straightforward for the common simpleton. This game can be played with two players and sometimes more if the grid is big enough, however if there are more than two players it can get unfair as the game reaches an end. Simply set up a grid of dots at least 2x2, choose a player to start, then each player takes a turn to place a line in between two adjacent dots. Each time a player places a line the next player plays his turn unless the player who just went put his line in such a manner that it captured a box, in which case he or she would go again. A player cannot place their lines diagonally only vertically or horizontally. If by chance when the game is over both players are tied for the number of captured boxes, the person who went second wins due to the advantage the other player had of going first. Otherwise, the player with the most boxes at the end wins.

Skills Players Learn: When playing this game (especially against a computer) players will tend to see strategies in gameplay at some parts. The beginning of the game is mostly random however. It is when chains start to form that players need to seek a play that will break the other players strategy and force the opponent to open up a chance for you to capture boxes. The computer uses an algorithm that lets it know how many boxes it needs to capture to be successful in the end so often when it has a chain that it could capture completely it will only capture the amount necessary then end its turn with a move that forces you to give the computer the win. So you can definitely learn strategies by playing against a computer for awhile. Looking at this game now I see it is a battle for control. Each player is trying to force the other to start the first chain so that that player can gain control of what the opponent will be able to do next. A novice player would not think of making sacrifices and leaving chains open, while an expert will see which moves or sacrifices he needs to make in order for him to have the most boxes by the end of the game.

Common Alternate Ruleset: A common alternate ruleset players use to avoid the sacrifice strategy is that whenever a player is able to capture a box they must do so. This eliminates players form capturing a part of a chain then forcing their opponent to finish it, giving them the next, bigger chain on a silver platter when their turn comes back.

Variations: Dots and boxes has also been played on a triangular grid as well as a hexagonal grid. Both of these variations share the same rules but are just different ways to look at and play the game.