Dots and Boxes on your own devices
Dots and boxes is the paper game of joining dots and closing squares, and online nobody has to share the sheet. Up to 4 players join one room from their own phones or computers, the host picks the board size, and whoever closes a box draws again. On a phone, the 5×5 and 6×6 grids start with tap twice to draw switched on, so a stray tap can’t give a box away: the first tap shows the line, the second draws it.
Free for 2–4 players, each on your own phone, tablet or computer. Share a link or a 6-character code; nobody needs an account or a download.
How to play dots and boxes online with friends
A dots and boxes room opens with two seats, and the host can raise it to three or four with Number of players. Friends fill the seats in the order they open the link, and anyone after that joins as a watcher. At two seats, the host also picks who draws the first line under Who goes first. The one game option is Board size: 3×3, 4×4 (the default), 5×5 or 6×6 boxes. Everyone sees the size in the lobby before the first line goes down, and a rematch keeps it.
Each player’s mark is the first letter of their name. If two people in the room share a first letter, everyone gets their seat number instead, so it is worth choosing names that start differently before you join.
Drawing lines on separate phones
When it is your turn, your phone takes a tap on any open line; on everyone else’s screen the bar names you and the grid waits. The newest line carries a small dot on every screen, which matters online: you can’t see where your friend’s finger went, so the dot is how you spot the move they just made.
Close a box and it fills with your color and your initial on every phone at once, and the turn stays with you. The bar says so, for example “Maya closed a box: go again”, so nobody on the call wonders why the same person is still drawing. Each badge keeps a running count of boxes. When the last box is claimed, the result lists everyone’s boxes, and equal top scores share the win. The host’s Rematch starts a fresh grid with the next player first, and the room keeps the score.
Tips for dots and boxes with friends far away
- Pick the grid for the group. A 3×3 grid is a quick dot game for two. With three or four players, a 5×5 or 6×6 grid gives everyone more boxes to fight over before the chains appear.
- Keep a call open. You can’t send messages inside the room, and the endgame, when someone has to open a long chain, is the moment everyone wants to talk about.
- With three or four, mind the next seat. Turns pass down the seat order shown in the lobby, so the third side of a box you draw is handed to the player after you, not to the whole table.
- Play a series. Rematch hands the first line to the next player each time, so in a dots and boxes online multiplayer game for three, every third game is yours to open.
The dots and boxes rules explain the extra turn, scoring and board sizes, and the dots and boxes strategy tutorial shows how chains and the double-cross decide close games. For one shared screen, or a game against the computer, play dots and boxes on one device. More grid games live in our list of pen and paper games.
Rooms are private and close by themselves after the game; the server keeps a room’s names and moves only while it is open. See the privacy policy for the details.
