Triangles Variations and House Rules

Pencil-and-paper games are passed from person to person, so nearly every family plays them a little differently. Triangles is no exception. It grew out of dots and boxes, and people have drawn it on all sorts of dot patterns with all sorts of scoring. This page covers the common differences, which of them you can choose in our online Triangles game, and a few more to try on paper.

Triangles and Dots and Boxes

Dots and boxes is played on a square grid of dots; each box needs four lines to close. Triangles uses a triangular grid, so each shape needs only three. That small change matters: a triangle goes from "safe" to "dangerous" after a single side, so safe lines run out sooner and the endgame arrives quicker. The big ideas carry straight over, though: take what you're given, give away the smallest chain, and leave the last two to keep control.

Board Sizes

There's no single official board. On paper, people simply draw as many rows of dots as they have time for. Our game offers three sizes, all big triangles of dots:

No Extra Move After Closing a Triangle

The usual rule, taken from dots and boxes, is that closing a triangle earns another line. Some families, often when teaching young children, play that turns always alternate: you claim what you close, but then it's the other player's turn no matter what.

This changes the game a lot. Long runs of triangles no longer go to one player; after you close a triangle in a chain, your opponent gets to close the next one. The "leave the last two" trick disappears, and the game becomes more about grabbing what's there and not leaving two-sided triangles lying around. It's a gentler, more back-and-forth game, which some people prefer.

Who Goes First

Any fair way works: the youngest, the loser of the last game, or a coin toss. Going first is neither a big advantage nor a disadvantage. In our game you choose in Settings whether you or the computer draws first.

Hexagon and Other Shaped Boards

On paper, many people draw the dots in a big hexagon instead of a triangle, or simply fill a page with a triangular pattern of dots and play until it's full. The rules are the same; only the outline changes. A hexagon board with three dots on each side has 24 small triangles, close to our Medium board. Our game uses the triangle shape because it fits a phone screen best.

Bonus Points for Bigger Shapes

Some families add bonuses: if all the small triangles making up a bigger triangle (or a hexagon) belong to the same player, that player scores extra points. It encourages building in one area of the board. It's fun on paper, but it makes the counting much harder, so our game keeps to the plain score of one point per triangle.

Marking Your Triangles

On paper, players write their initials inside the triangles they close, or color them in. Our game does both: each triangle gets your color, a pattern (dots for the first player, stripes for the second) and a letter, so it's clear who owns what even if colors are hard to tell apart.

Which Rules Does Our Game Use?

Whatever the rules at your table, the game rewards the same habits. The strategy guide explains them, and the full rules page covers every detail.