Sources page biographical material

4.B.3. DOTS AND BOXES
Lucas. Le jeu de l'École Polytechnique. RM2, 1883, pp. 90 91. He gives a brief description, starting: "Depuis quelques années, les élèves de l'École Polytechnique ont imaginé un nouveaux jeu de combinaison assez original." He clearly describes drawing the edges of the game board and that the completer of a box gets to go again. He concludes: "Ce jeu nous a paru assez curieux pour en donner ici la description; mais, jusqu'a présent, nous ne connaissons pas encore d'observations ni de remarques assez importantes pour en dire davantage."

Lucas. Nouveaux jeux scientifiques de M. Édouard Lucas. La Nature 17 (1889) 301 303. Clearly describes a game version of La Pipopipette on p. 302, picture on p. 301, "... un nouveau jeu ... dédié aux élèves de l'école Polytechnique." This is dots and boxes with the outer edges already drawn in.

Lucas. L'Arithmétique Amusante. 1895. Note III: Les jeux scientifiques de Lucas, pp. 203 209 -- includes his booklet: La Pipopipette, Nouveau jeu de combinaisons, Dédié aux élèves de l'École Polytechnique, Par un Antique de la promotion de 1861, (1889), on pp. 204 208. On p. 207, he says the game was devised by several of his former pupils at the École Polytechnique. On p. 37, he remarks that "Pipo est la désignation abrégée de Polytechnique, par les élèves de l'X, ...."

Robert Marquard & Georg Frieckert. German Patent 108,830 -- Gesellschaftsspiel. Patented: 15 Jun 1899. 1p + 1p diagrams. 8 x 8 array of boxes on a board with slots for inserting edges. No indication that the player who completes a box gets to play again. They have some squares with values but also allow all squares to have equal value.

C. Ganse. The dot game. Ladies' Home Journal (Jun 1903) 41. Describes the game and states that one who makes a box gets to go again.

Loyd. The boxer's puzzle. Cyclopedia, 1914, pp. 104 & 352. = MPSL1, prob. 91, pp. 88 89 & 152 153. c= SLAHP: Oriental tit tat toe, pp. 28 & 92 93. Loyd doesn't start with the boundaries drawn. He asserts it is 'from the East'.

Ahrens. A&N. 1918. Chap. XIV: Pipopipette, pp. 147 155, describes it in more detail than Lucas does. He says the game appeared recently.

Blyth. Match-Stick Magic. 1921. Boxes, pp. 84-85. "The above game is familiar to most boys and girls ...." No indication that the completer of a box gets to play again.

Heinrich Voggenreiter. Deutsches Spielbuch Sechster Teil: Heimspiele. Ludwig Voggenreiter, Potsdam, 1930. Pp. 84-85: Die Käsekiste. Describes a version for two or more players. The first player must start at a corner and players must always connect to previously drawn lines. A player who completes a box gets to play again.

Meyer. Big Fun Book. 1940. Boxes, p. 661. Brief description, somewhat vaguely stating that a player who completes a box can play again.

The Home Book of Quizzes, Games and Jokes. Op. cit. in 4.B.1, 1941. P. 151: Dots and squares. Clearly says the completer gets to play again. "The game calls for great ingenuity."

"Zodiastar". Fun with Matches and Match Boxes. (Cover says: Match Tricks From the 1880s to the 1940s.) Universal Publications, London, nd [late 1940s?]. The game of boxes, pp. 48-49. Starts by laying out four matches in a square and players put down matches which must touch the previous matches. Completing a box gives another play. No indication that matches must be on lattice lines, but perhaps this is intended.

Readers' Research Department. RMM 2 (Apr 1961) 38 41, 3 (Jun 1961) 51 52, 4 (Aug 1961) 52 55. On pp. 40 41 of No. 2, it says that Martin Gardner suggests seeking the best strategy. Editor notes there are two versions of the rules -- where the one who makes a box gets an extra turn, and where he doesn't -- and that the game can be played on other arrays. On p. 51 of No. 3, there is a symmetry analysis of the no extra turn game on a board with an odd number of squares. On pp. 52 54 of No. 4, there is some analysis of the extra turn case on a board with an odd number of boxes.

Everett V. Jackson. Dots and cubes. JRM 6:4 (Fall 1973) 273 279. Studies 3 dimensional game where a play is a square in the cubical lattice.

Gyles Brandreth. Pencil and Paper Games and Puzzles. Carousel, 1976. Worm, pp. 18-19. This is a sort of 'anti-boxes' -- one draws segments on the lattice forming a path without any cycles -- last player wins. = Pencil & Paper Puzzle Games; Watermill Press, Mahwah, New Jersey, 1989, pp. 18-19.

Winning Ways. 1982. Chap. 16: Dots-and-Boxes, pp. 507-550

David B. Lewis. Eureka! Perigee (Putnam), NY, 1983. Pp. 44 45 suggests playing on the triangular lattice.

Sheila Anne Barry. The World's Best Travel Games. Sterling, NY, 1987.

Eternal triangles, pp. 80-81. Gives the game on the triangular lattice.

Snakes, pp. 81-82. Same as Brandreth's Worm. I think 'snake' would be a better title as only one path is drawn.