Dots and Boxes Strategy: 8 Tips to Win the Chain Fight

Good dots and boxes strategy comes down to one moment: the point where every safe line is gone and somebody has to open a chain. Whoever has to do that usually loses the game, so the whole middle of the game is a fight over who runs out of safe lines first.

The tips below fit the classic rules: take turns drawing a line between two dots next to each other, claim a box when you draw its fourth side, draw again after a claim, and the most boxes wins. You can try every one of them in Dots & Boxes on HulaGames, free in your browser, against a bot with three levels. Gold bands on the board mark the long chains, so you can watch this strategy happen.

1. Never draw the third side early

A line that gives a box its third side hands that box to your opponent, and they draw again. While any safe line is left (one that gives no box a third side), play it. Early in the game there are plenty, so this one habit already beats most casual players.

2. Take every box you’re given, until the end

If your opponent draws a third side, take the box. Free boxes in the opening are almost always worth it. The only time to say no comes at the end of a chain, in tip 5.

3. Watch the chains form

As the board fills, the open boxes join into chains (rows of boxes linked through their open sides) and loops (chains that close on themselves). A chain of three or more boxes is a long chain: the first line drawn into it gives the whole thing away. On HulaGames each long chain gets a gold band and the counter at the top shows how many there are.

4. Count the long chains

On a board with an even number of dots, the first player should aim for an even number of long chains, and the second player for an odd number. Every board on HulaGames has an even number of dots, and you always move first against the bot, so as the safe lines run low, try to steer the board toward 2 or 4 long chains, not 1 or 3. You change the count by joining two short pieces into one chain, or by cutting a chain in two before it is finished.

5. Give away two boxes on purpose

This is the expert move, called the double-cross. When your opponent opens a long chain for you, take every box except the last two. Then draw the line at the far end that hands those two boxes back. Your opponent takes them, and now it’s their move again, so they have to open the next chain for you. Two boxes is a small price for keeping control.

6. Leave four at the end of a loop

A loop works the same way, except the move costs four boxes: take all but the last four, then draw the line in the middle that leaves them as two pairs. Only do it when the chains still to come are worth more than four boxes.

7. Open the smallest piece first

When you’re the one who has to open something, open the smallest piece on the board: a single box or a pair before any long chain. Opening a pair in the middle (the line between the two boxes) also stops your opponent from doing the double-cross on it.

8. Sacrifice early to fix the count

If the chain count is going the wrong way, giving up a box or two while safe lines remain can flip who runs out first. One box now for a seven-box chain later is a good trade. Hard: chain master on HulaGames plays for the chain count too, so when it does something odd near the end of the safe lines, ask why.

Practice it against the bot

Start against Easy to get the feel of safe lines, then try Medium, which takes every box but slips when the safe lines run out. When you’re ready for the chain fight, play Hard on a Big 7×7 board. The Daily Endgame is the purest practice of all: one end-of-game board a day, with a target to take against a bot that never slips.

If you like this kind of thinking, try our backgammon strategy tips or our Mexican Train strategy tips next.