Gamehelpdots

Dots is played on a square grid.

Players alternate placing a dot of their color on an empty intersection. If your newly placed dot completes a closed chain of your dots (adjacent orthogonally or diagonally) that encloses at least one opponent dot, you “surround” that entire region.

All opponent dots inside count for your score (your own enclosed dots don’t), and everything inside the boundary—dots and empty intersections—becomes out of play. A surrounded (captured) region stays blocked, but it can still end up inside a later, larger surround (it doesn’t become playable again or score again).

You may not surround an area that contains no enemy dots, which allows counterplay by placing dots inside an enclosed empty space.

The goal is to capture more dots than your opponent. a player may stop the game, after which the opponent plays out any remaining captures, then the higher capture total wins.