Behold! Yet another game from our childhood, when nothing more than paper and pencil was all we had to keep us entertained, Dots and Boxes was one of those intangibly exciting and addictive games we used to play against our bretheren. Simple, fun and cheery, it was quick to set up and strategy was key to beating your foe. And now, for your entertainment, it's available to play in LabVIEW!
Intro
As a personal project I spent some time creating this game in LabVIEW because, well, I wanted to. And that's good enough reason for me.
If you don't know Dots & Boxes then the rules are simple. The winner is the player with the most boxes at the end of the game, and you create boxes by drawing lines between the dots. The challenge is creating boxes without letting your opponent steal them!
Each player takes a turn to draw a line between two dots (only horizontal and vertical lines permitted). If that line completes the four sides of a box then you win the box and get to draw another line. Use strategy to force the hand of your opponent and crush them into defeat!
I want to play it, how please?
- Download and open the LabVIEW project Dots and Boxes.lvproj
- Open Dots and Boxes Game.vi and run it.
- The game will ask you which grid size you want - select 7 by 5 for your first game.
- If you're playing alone, change the Player 2 player type to computer.
- Start your first move by selecting a space between two dots on the grid to create a line.
Computer Opponent
If you're playing against the computer, it will choose it's edge immediately so it will be your go again quicker than you can blink. Keep drawing edges, and attempt to complete boxes. Warning! The computer player will spot any 3-edged zones that can be easily completed to make a box, so if you leave an obvious opening like that it will take your box from you and leave you weeping in the cold! So try to be strategic!
The computer opponent is not so smart actually, and can easily be fooled. Sometimes it will create 3-edged areas itself, handing you a free box opportunity on a plate. And it can't project forwards to estimate the value of any particular move, so with your human brain you should be at an advantage. However, it's beaten me more than once, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
Game Features
It's very simple, but these features are worth checking out:
- You can set you player names if you wish - just select the name and start typing.
- You can move the game around by dragging the title area (check out the Event Structure to see how that's handled)
- None-rectangular front panel! Not so obvious in the snapshot above, but the rounded corners are transparent. See Steve's blog on Groovy Splash Screens for hints on how this was achieved.
- The grid is an XControl (queue ominous orchestral blast). XControls are awesome. Period. Check out the code!
- The whole code is open source - so please feel free to browse through it at your own pleasure. Don't criticise the style though, this was a personal project conducted without all the usual controlling processes so it's messy in places - especially the code for drawing the grid which got hacked at more than once.
Creating your own Computer Intelligence
I'm hoping y'all out there will be interested in creating your own computer opponent! The "Computer_Play" state of the state machine calls the computer player code to choose which edge to create, and included here is my own very basic computer player. Please go ahead and create your own computer player code and try it out! If you can post it here then all the better! I'd certainly be interested to see what people come up with!
There will be a challenge over on the Breakpoint forum for user entries, and if we get enough we might be pitching them against one another. Fun times!
LabVIEW Specifics
It's written in LabVIEW 2011 under Windows 7. It should work on all platforms, although I haven't tested it on anything else.
Comments
There's room for improvement, furtherment, or I might just do nothing more with it. It was fun to create, and I'd love to see some intelligent computer opponents developed by you smart folk out there that will make this game a real challenge to play!
All comments welcome!
Parting Words
Enjoy! And don't let your boss catch you playing games at work. It may be LabVIEW, but it's still a game
Version History
V1.0 - First release (7th April 2014)
FAQs
If your opponent is forced to play in one of these chains, then you can take all but two of the boxes and, by sacrificing the last two boxes, make certain that it is his turn to play into the next long chain. You will thus win all but two boxes in each long chain, and of course you will win all boxes in the last chain.
Are Dots and Boxes solved? ›
This is the largest game solved to date, and is a tie given optimal play by both opponents.
How to always win Dots and Boxes 5x5? ›
The secret is to decline the last two squares of every long chain of three or more squares. You will then win all but two of every chain, plus the whole of the last chain.
How to beat the dot game? ›
If your opponent plays within a loop, leave four boxes and play so that there is a space between two boxes on either side of your last line. By sacrificing the last 2 boxes of a chain or the last 4 boxes of a loop, you are guaranteed to obtain every single chain in the game.
What is the popular cheat code? ›
The cheat code that has been featured in the most videogames in history is the Konami Code, which debuted in the NES version of Gradius, released in 1986, . The code is L1, L2, R1, R2, Up, Down, Left, Right, L1, L2, R1, R2, Up, Down, Left, Right. Jetpacks add even more straightforward fun to .
What are cheat codes? ›
in a computer or video game, a secret password, set of numbers, series of buttons to press, etc., that makes something unusual happen, for example giving a player unusual abilities or allowing them to advance in the game : The disk also contains secret cheat codes to get additional ammunition or be able to skip levels.
What are the rules for Dots and Boxes? ›
Make a 4 x 4 grid of dots on a sheet of paper, and give each player a pen or pencil. Take turns drawing a single line to connect 2 dots that are next to each other. If you add the 4th line to enclose a box, earn a point and take another turn. Win the game if you capture the most boxes once you fill the entire grid.
What are the odds of shutting the box? ›
Short answer: You can shut the box ~ 0.41% of the time, or about 1 in 250 tries
| Score | Percent |
|---|
| 0 | 0.41% |
| 10 | 0.39% |
| 9 | 0.26% |
| 63 | 0.23% |
71 more rowsMay 9, 2016
Dots and boxes is a pencil-and-paper game for two players (sometimes more). It was first published in the 19th century by French mathematician Édouard Lucas, who called it la pipopipette. It has gone by many other names, including dots and dashes, game of dots, dot to dot grid, boxes, and pigs in a pen.
How to always win square it? ›
A winning strategy. Aim to place 3 dots in a row where on at least one side, all of the adjacent dots on that side are empty. Then, make the “T” shape with your next move, and you can't lose. Fortunately, this strategy gets even easier on bigger boards!
Sequence Game Tips – Developing a Winning Strategy
- Understand the Game Mechanics. ...
- Master the Art of Sequencing. ...
- Strike a Balance between Offense and Defense. ...
- Utilize Wild Cards Wisely. ...
- Pay Attention to Your Opponents. ...
- Manage Your Resources. ...
- Develop Multiple Paths to Victory. ...
- Baiting Your Opponents.
Using these techniques, we have determined for the first time that Dots-And-Boxes on a board of 4 x 5 boxes is a tie given optimal play; this is the largest game solved to date.
What is the best strategy for dots? ›
Make squares
Just make them. There is no other Dots strategy. Drawing a square of like-colored dots eliminates all dots of that color from the board. It's the fastest way to rack up points and the only way to get your score into the stratosphere.
What is the highest score on dots? ›
And this goes without saying, but speed is so important in Dots. To get a 700, or even a 600, in Dots, I can tell you, you must have a nearly flawless game with square, after square, after square. And you have to do it quickly. The highest score ever is 800 so 600 or 700 is quite good.
How do you beat the box game? ›
In order for the entire group to win the game, they must enter their code into the electronic combination lock before the countdown is over. There are four intriguing cases in each aluminium box which are protected by strong combination locks. These contain codes and mysteries that teams must solve to progress.
How does the card game cheat work? ›
If anyone thinks the discarder is lying, they shout "Cheat!" before the next player begins their turn, and the cards are turned over. If they are as announced, the doubter picks up the entire pile. If a deception is revealed, the deceiver picks them up.
How do you win in Shut the Box? ›
The player with the lowest score after a certain number of rounds wins. If a player closes all ties, they have “shut the box” and win outright.
How do cheat codes work in games? ›
Cheat codes are usually activated by typing secret passwords or pressing controller buttons in a certain sequence. Less common activation methods include entering certain high score names, holding keys or buttons while dying, picking up items in a particular order and otherwise performing unintuitive actions.
