App Review: Dots Lines Squares 3

Sometimes you just need a quick classic game to fill some idle time in your day. In the old days you'd grab a piece of paper and set up the four lines for tic-tac-toe, or if you were feeling particularly ambitious you might lay out a grid of dots for a game of dots-and-lines. Thanks to the magic of tablets, you can make a quick game tic-tac-toe happen, or if you're in that particularly ambitious mood you can turn to Dots Lines Squares for the paper classic.

If you're not familiar dots-and-lines, here's a quick primer: players take turns drawing lines connecting dots on the grid. The goal of these lines is to eventually form a box, when you form a box you get a point for that box and get to draw another line. In the end, whoever's closed in the most boxes is declared the winner. For such a simple game it can get surprisingly strategic. Draw a line in the wrong place and the wrong time and your opponent can fill in a series of boxes in one fell swoop.

Introducing Dots Lines Squares which takes connect the dots to another level entirely. Based on the simple premise that it’s a two person game, you don’t have to play all on your onesies.  When you start the game, you are met with a beautiful back drop of graphite dots moving against an ebony backdrop with pops of orange.

Dots Lines Squares offers you two play modes: on your own, where you can practice building boxes, or you can pair up with an in-person friend to draw lines and keep score. We'd like for Dots Lines Squares to offer a leaderboard so you can keep tabs on how you're doing against your opponent (amazingly well, we're sure).

Our main gripe with Dots Lines Squares is that there's no obvious instruction on how to make your lines. We initially wanted to drag from dot-to-dot, but it turns out all you have to do is tap between your dots to make a line appear. The lines are color-coded blue or green to differentiate between the players, though the color of the line isn't nearly as important as the color that appears inside that box when the fourth line is drawn.

Dots Lines Squares may not have a bunch of bells and whistles, heck, it doesn't even have a computerized opponent to digitially kick your butt. What it does have is a simple concept that'll provide the kind of entertainment you need to get through those lulls in life. And at $0.99 it's not much for a bit of entertainment.