Printable Dot Game (Fun Free Templates and Grids!)

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Today we have a fun dot game printable! It’s a quick and easy printable game and a great boredom buster!

The Dot Game is a timeless classic that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It’s also known as the boxes game, or the dots and boxes game.

Our printable dot game board allows you to take the fun of this popular game with you wherever you go, without having to draw hundreds of little dots!

And if you like this one, you’ll love some of our other printable games like our printable tic tac toe board and our pin the tail on the donkey game.

How to Play the Dot Game

The game is pretty simple once you know how to play it.

It’s a two-player game that starts with an empty grid of dots. On each turn, draw one horizontal or vertical line between two neighboring dots. Don’t draw diagonally, skip over a dot, or redraw an existing line.

Player A is the pink line, and player B is the green line. The first player makes a line. Then the second player makes their line.

Keep taking turns making single lines until you are able to complete a square with only one line. Typically, the board starts to fill up before you are able to make a full square. It starts by looking like this.

Then eventually more like this:

When the board starts to fill up, a player will be forced to draw the third line of a square, allowing the other player to complete a box.

When you draw the fourth side of a box, write your initial inside it and score one point. You must then take another turn. If that move completes another box, claim it and keep playing until you draw a line that doesn’t complete a box. A single line can complete two boxes; claim both for two points.

When you draw a line that doesn’t complete a box, your turn ends. The other player then takes a turn and may have an opportunity to claim boxes of their own.

This goes back and forth until all the board is filled up.

The game ends when no more lines can be placed.

Count each player’s marked boxes. The player with the most boxes wins; equal totals are a tie. For a shorter game, agree on a smaller area of the grid before starting.

The Printable Dot Game Board

We created a few different dot game printables so that you can quickly and easily play at home or in class!

We have a fun colorful one where all the boxes of the dot grid are colors. It makes for a fun dot game!

We also have some printer-friendly black and white versions.

One option is a large dot game board with a title at the top.

And one with no title, just a giant board of dots.

We also have one that includes 2 dots game printables on one page, which allows you to cut the printable templates in half and have 2 games.

This is great for classrooms, for keeping the whole family entertained during holidays or to use as a party activity.

Grab the Dot Game Printable

Put your name and email in the pink box below, and we’ll send the free dot game printable boards straight to your inbox.

These are for personal or classroom use only, please. Not for commercial use. Thank you!

Have fun playing dots! For another two-player challenge, try our printable Battleship game.