Blazing Games - Ultimate Retro Project - Volume 4 - Episode 35

Ultimate Retro Project
Episode 40 Modern Dots

Overview

As I explained in the classic version, Dots is a pen and paper games that was played in elementary school. In this simple game you make a grid of dots on the paper (or use graph paper). Players alternate turns drawing lines between adjacent dots. The goal is to create 1 unit by 1 unit squares. Completing a square earns you that square and another turn. Once all the possible lines have been completed, the number of squares each person owns is counted and the person with the most squares wins the game.

Playing the Game

When you start the game you decide how big the board is going to be. The bigger the board the longer the game. This is where the game deviates from the classic version. Instead of having to choose if the player is human or not at the beginning of the game, the player is able to toggle the use of AI at any time. Placing lines is simply a matter of clicking where you wish the line to be, with squares being filled with the color of the player who completed the box. The players are red and blue.

Behind the Game

This game is much faster to play than the classic version. The AI is not as good as it could be, with Bill Spelchan's personal blog going into details of how to make the AI better. While there are no short term plans to improve the AI, if there is enough demand, Billy will probably add the more advanced AI versions to the game and allow the player to select the AI they wish to play against.