Dots Free
by Eric March on November 16, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Rate it:
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
Loading ...
App Name: Dots Free
Version: 1.0
Developer: Optime Software
Category: Strategy Games
An iPhone version of the vintage pen-and-paper game Dots and Boxes which has also had a digital version in one form or another for just about every computer ever made. The screen is filled with an array of dots, and players take turns placing lines between two dots in an attempt to “capture” squares by being the one to enclose a box when it’s your turn. Thus, the idea is to simultaneously avoid drawing lines that would allow your opponent to close a box while at the same time looking for boxes of your own you can close. A player who closes a box gets to continue closing boxes in a “chain” until there are no more than can be closed, and then it’s the other player’s turn.
Although it sounds simple enough, this game requires a great deal of pure strategy to play once you’ve reached the point where you’re both starting to make boxes, as evidenced by the fact that I suck at it on an epic scale. Players who are not careful and don’t examine the board closely before making a move can inadvertently give the opponent the opportunity to create a chain. The trick, when faced with having to make a sacrifice (that is, you cannot avoid drawing a line that your opponent can make a closed box out of) is to find a place to draw a line in a place that gives your opponent the smallest possible chain. The real aim of the player then is not so much to try and take boxes as it is to control what boxes their opponent is allowed to take.
In fact, this game is the subject of many strategic theories and named gameplay gambits in much the same way that Chess is, though on a smaller scale, which speaks highly of the “simple to play, hard to master” hallmark of good game design. New players will probably find it frustrating, because the appearance of stark simplicity belies the level of strategy required to actually win a game. Have a go at this simple Flash version of the game and you’ll see what I mean. It requires concentration, forward thinking and strategic placement to play, otherwise you’ll just end up handing your opponent huge chains with which they will easily win the game by a large margin.
Dots itself presents a rather nice version of this game, featuring pleasant, polished graphics. You can configure the game to determine who starts the game first (or if you take turns), and disable your ability to continue making a chain when the opportunity permits (presumably to enhance the challenge, though I find this makes the game horribly one-sided in a single-player game against the CPU, since it doesn’t observe that setting). You can play one player vs. the computer, two player, or if you’re just feeling voyeuristic, you can watch the computer play against itself. Sound can also be disabled, which is cool because the only sound in the game is a loud cheer when you win, and it the game uses ringer volume, not app volume. Oddly, there are only two difficulty levels: Easy, and Medium. Easy is really easy; I can win that every time. Medium is a little more difficult, but I’m still able to win at it just fine. There really needs to be a hard difficulty here for added challenge.
Overall this is a pretty good conversion of a vintage paper game.
Related Posts:
Posted in Games: Strategy
