Pen and Paper Games: 12 Classics and How to Play

The best pen and paper games need nothing but a pencil, a scrap of paper and a friend: Tic-Tac-Toe, Dots and Boxes, Hangman, Gomoku, Sea Battle and Sprouts are the classics, and each one takes less than a minute to set up. Below are twelve of them with quick rules, suggested ages and a tip for each, from games a five-year-old can win to ones mathematicians still study.

Five of these games can also be played on one phone or tablet when you are out of paper. Look for the links in each section.

Pen and paper games at a glance

Quick games for two

1. Tic-Tac-Toe

Draw a three-by-three grid. Players take turns writing X and O; the first to get three in a row across, down or diagonally wins. Known as noughts and crosses in Britain, it was also one of the first games ever played on a computer: OXO, written by A. S. Douglas at the University of Cambridge in 1952.

Tip: Start in a corner. Your opponent must answer in the center to avoid trouble. When two good players meet, the game always ends in a draw.

Play Tic-Tac-Toe with a friend or against the computer, and see the Tic-Tac-Toe tutorial for the moves that never lose.

2. SOS

Draw a grid of empty squares, six by six or larger. On your turn, write either an S or an O in any empty square. If you complete the letters S-O-S in a line (across, down or diagonally), you score a point and take another turn. When the grid is full, the player with the most SOS lines wins.

Tip: Never leave an S, a blank and an S in a line, or an S and an O next to an empty square. Your opponent will finish them.

3. Dots and Boxes

Draw a rectangle of dots, such as five by five. Players take turns joining two neighboring dots with a line. If your line closes the fourth side of a box, write your initial in it and draw again. When every box is closed, the player with the most boxes wins. The game was first published by the French mathematician Édouard Lucas in 1889.

Tip: Avoid drawing the third side of any box. Late in the game, count the long chains of boxes; the player who controls the chains usually wins.

Play Dots and Boxes with two to four players on one device, then read the Dots and Boxes strategy guide to learn the chain rule.

4. Four in a Row

You do not need a plastic frame. Draw a grid seven squares wide and six tall. Players take turns marking a column; your mark always goes in the lowest empty square of that column, as if it had dropped. Get four in a row across, down or diagonally to win.

Tip: The center column is the strongest. Build threats on two rows at once so your opponent cannot block both.

Play Four in a Row on one device, or against the computer on Easy, Medium or Hard.

5. Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe

Draw a large tic-tac-toe grid and put a small tic-tac-toe grid in each of its nine squares. The first player marks any small square. The position of that square inside its small board decides which small board the next player must play in. For example, playing the top-right square of any small board sends your opponent to the top-right board. Win a small board to claim that square of the big grid; three claimed squares in a row wins the game. If you are sent to a board that is already won or full, you may play anywhere.

Tip: Every move is also a choice of where your opponent goes next. Avoid sending them to a board they are about to win.

Strategy games on graph paper

6. Gomoku (Five in a Row)

Gomoku comes from Japan, where it is played with black and white stones on a Go board, but graph paper works perfectly. Players take turns marking an intersection or square with X or O. The first to make five in an unbroken line wins. Some players count only exactly five, so a line of six does not win.

Tip: A line of four with both ends open cannot be stopped. Aim to create two threats with one move. The first player has a strong edge, so take turns going first.

Play Gomoku on a 15-by-15 board, with an optional exactly-five rule.

7. Sea Battle

Each player draws two ten-by-ten grids, labeled A to J across and 1 to 10 down: one for your own fleet and one to track your shots. Secretly draw your ships along rows or columns. A common fleet is one ship of five squares, one of four, two of three and one of two. Take turns calling a square, such as “C7.” Your opponent answers “hit” or “miss” and announces when a ship is sunk. The first to sink the whole fleet wins.

Tip: Fire in a checkerboard pattern. Every ship covers at least two squares, so you only need to search half the board.

8. Code Breaker (Bulls and Cows)

One player writes down a secret four-digit number with no repeated digits. The other guesses a number, and the setter replies with “bulls” (right digit in the right place) and “cows” (right digit in the wrong place). If the secret is 4271 and the guess is 1234, the answer is one bull (the 2) and two cows (the 1 and the 4). Swap roles; the fewest guesses wins.

Tip: Write your guesses and answers in a table, and cross off digits as soon as you rule them out.

9. Sprouts

Invented by the mathematicians John Conway and Michael Paterson at Cambridge in 1967. Start with three dots. On your turn, draw a line from one dot to another (or a loop back to the same dot) and place a new dot somewhere on that line. Lines may not cross, and no dot may have more than three lines touching it. The last player able to move wins.

Tip: A game that starts with three dots can last at most eight moves, so you can start counting ahead early. Add more dots as you improve.

Word games for families and groups

10. Hangman

One player thinks of a word and draws a blank for each letter. The others guess one letter at a time. Correct letters are written in; each wrong letter adds a part to the drawing, usually head, body, two arms and two legs. Guess the word before the drawing is finished to win. Its exact origin is unknown, but a version called “Birds, Beasts and Fishes” was recorded in Britain in 1894.

Tip: Start with common vowels, then try R, S, T, L and N.

Play Hangman against computer-chosen words, or let one player type a secret word behind a pass screen. The Hangman rules guide has more variants.

11. Word Ladder

Lewis Carroll published this puzzle as “Doublets” in 1879. Pick a start word and an end word of the same length. Change one letter at a time, making a real word at every step. Carroll’s own example turns HEAD into TAIL: HEAD, HEAL, TEAL, TELL, TALL, TAIL. Play solo, or race a friend to the shortest ladder.

Tip: Work from both ends at once and look for a word that sits halfway between them.

12. Categories

Each player draws columns headed Name, Place, Animal and Thing (add Food or Movie for older players). Someone picks a random letter, and everyone fills in one answer per column starting with that letter before a timer runs out. Score 10 points for a unique answer, 5 for an answer someone else also wrote, and 0 for a blank.

Tip: Unusual answers score double, so skip the obvious ones.

Tips for better pen and paper games

• Keep graph paper handy. It makes Gomoku, Sea Battle, SOS and Dots and Boxes neater and faster.
• Use two colors. Different pens make Tic-Tac-Toe, Gomoku and Dots and Boxes easier to read.
• Take turns going first. In many of these games, the first player has an advantage.
• Start small, then scale up. A smaller Dots and Boxes grid or fewer Sprouts dots keeps the first games short.

Pen and paper games are perfect when the battery is low or the Wi-Fi is down. When you would rather skip the eraser, all five on-screen versions here are part of our two player games and offline games collections.