Boxes

A classic children's paper-and-pencil game



You are playing in red, the computer plays in blue. In the first game, the computer goes first. In the next, you go first and then you and the computer take it in turns.

The aim of the game is to complete more "boxes" than your opponent. You take it in turns to select a vertical or horizontal "bar" which connects two of the dots on the grid. If you select the fourth "bar", so completing a square, or "box", your score is incremented and you are allowed to select another "bar". In this way, long runs of boxes can be won in a single move. Your turn stops when you fail to complete a "box". The score shows your current number of "boxes" (in red) against the computer's (in blue).

You select a location for a bar by clicking midway between the dots that the bar would connect.

When all of the "boxes" are assigned to you or to the computer, the game is over and the result appears. Click anywhere on the playing grid to start a new game.

Hint: try to avoid selecting the third "bar" of a "box" - this would give your opponent an easy "box".


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Last updated 11-Apr-97