Last updated on January 17th, 2026 at 01:26 am
Dots + Boxes – Entertainment Game Review
Dots + Boxes is a Entertainment/Board/Family game from Optime Software LLC, first launched in 14th November 2008.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 2,363+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Dots + Boxes Stand Out
Put away your pencil and paper, now you can play the classic Dot Game right on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Dots Free is the highest quality Dots and Boxes game available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and we're giving it away for free.
Dots and Boxes is a very simple game. Two players take turns drawing lines between dots on the game board. When a player draws a line that completes a box, the player "owns" that box. Whoever owns more boxes when the game board is full is the winner.
Dots Free supports one player and two player gameplay, so you can play against another human or against your iPhone. If you're really bored, you can even put the game in demo mode and watch your iPhone play itself.
Dots Free offers a host of exciting features, including:
- Killer graphics and awesome sound effects
- Configurable player names and score tracking
- Configurable 1 player difficulty level
- Undo function
- Automatic save when you exit the app or receive a phone call
Dots Free is supported by unobtrusive banner advertising.
This Entertainment game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Dots + Boxes is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 1st July 2018
Recent improvements include:
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
• GDPR support
• Minor bug fixes
Download & Availability
Dots + Boxes is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We first downloaded this because our mom had it on her phone so we tested it and we like it.
We dont like this game at all but it ok.
Its really fun. Our kids play it while were waiting in restaurants!Simple,Easy, and Fun.SEF.
This game forces one player, challenging another player if they want to play, and it just gets the job done right. Youre just a color, trying to get four lines closed up into the formal shape; a square. You keep getting turns if you keep making boxes until you dont on your next move. The game mostly is about puzzle, your smarts, and strategy. Let your mind go wild and put your wits up! This one is for players of all ages! You can change settings, like a nickname, your color, and a few other things, like a hard CPU, or a easy starter robot. The objective of Dots and Boxes is to box up the most, and the game ends after the whole board is filled with boxes. It is a very good game, although you might rage when you lose. Or laugh when you win. The game always has a box, JUST for you to box up.
Thank you for being a good game.
We love playing this with our daughter.
Its good to see this game make it to the iPhone, but there are times where we have a hard time getting certain areas of the screen to respond. The options are wonderful.
Why is this app abandoned? It cannot be played on the iOS 17.7.2.
We really enjoy this game. Except it crashes sometimes and we have to reinstall it. Thats the only problem we have with it.
Game freezers often, and the ai on hard is maybe a smart 4th grader. Freezing issue is the biggest complaint.
The game itself is good but the lag is horrible. For instance we were trying to start a round and it will let us change the names and difficulties but we cant start a round or open options. This has been going on for the past 4 months and we only got to play it a few times because of this.
We like this game but it does not work now. It is frozen. We find something that we like and it stops working.
This app doesnt work anymore. Suspect its no longer fully compatible with current iOS. Cant get out of the game set up menu to start a game. Delete and reloaded but same issue. Used to be a favorite but its being permanently deleted now.
We dont like it because the app always wins.
Currently when we try to open the game it gets stuck on the settings page and will not open. When the game worked, we enjoyed it.
Used to be a great game now it simply doesnt work and youll spend 15 minutes trying to make it work to realize it just doesnt function.
Hate hate hate hate hate do not use it, it tracs you,it hears you, it sees you and it is like haunted its like its sees you physically like it was with you . A few days later this game got a foto of us that was send in a privet app now pall most all people know us our age our name our home our phone number They we have a sister and most of the kids have been through this game is almost like you can know people by looking at a foto of them and reading the text below your photo this is scary a needed to call the police because it haunts you hate it dont use it.
This game was fun and then they decided to improve it. Who can see the colors, design is okay, but the faded color are HORRIBLE.
We cant even open a game without an ad popping up and then we cant even get to play the game because it wont let us delete the ad. Use to like it. Deleted it.
Our wife was playing this app with our 8-yr old child (note the app is rated 4+) and pop up ads started. The first few were simply for other games, but then a pornographic ad popped up. Completely unacceptable and disgusting. While we were right there to shut it off, we wonder how many kids have been exposed to these images while playing apps from this developer (Optime Software company). This kind of embedded stuff shouldn't be allowed.
We agree with all the other reviewers about the faded game which takes a toll on our eyes. And all the advertisements on the bottom. It's a pity, used the play the game a lot.
Why was it necessary to fad the colors as well as delay the computer's movies. As the saying goes,"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!".
The contrast and color scheme of the old version was much better. The faded 2d look is really hard to see. This was one of our favorite games. It reminded us of our dad. He and we would play with paper and pencil. This electronic version was so nice but now it's ruined.
We agree with the others, the new color scheme is horrible. Why didn't you just fix the bugs and leave the rest alone? Delete.
This new version is much harder to use and, frankly much less fun to play. It would be improved if: 1) we had our choice of color schemes. Some of us with aging eyes find this version much harder to play because the colors are faint. Was that intentional? 2) The game is still too easy. When the game chooses to open a series of eight or 10 consecutive boxes for our turn when a series of two boxes is still available, it is clear the game is "dumbed down." C'mon Optime. You can do a lot better than this. This game does not meet the quality standard you have set in other games.
This used to be fun to play, now it's a strain on our eyes. The game moves so quickly, we cannot tell where it placed their line, & the colour is practically impossible to see. Back to the drawing board, please.
We'll never understand why companies always feel like they have to continually tinker with their perfectly fine products. Here's a great example. This was a wonderful game that had a nice 3D look to it. Our grandkids and we played it often. But for some unknown reason Optime decided to 'improve' it. The new version is a faded 2D version of it's former self, and, oh yeah, did we mention the ads? Now when you turn it on you have to wait twice as long while a video advertisement downloads and once you figure out which side of the screen to touch to get it to go away due to a lack of an X, you then have to endure steaming ads all through your game at the bottom of the screen. And the fact that they are so sneaky as to not even tell you that they have decided to go with an ad supported model now in their update announcement makes us think very poorly of Optime. It's their app and they can certainly do with it what they want, but we'll probably be looking for a replacement.
We remember playing this on our dad's iPhone 3G, and always asking him for it so we can play this game. 8 years later, it's still entertaining for when we're bored or when our phone's battery is almost dead. We would highly recommend this app.
We love this game it is so cool! Lol.
This game is so fun and we love this app! We recommend this game for any one since this app is so AWESOME!! We don't have any problems with this app, thankfully. This app is.
It's a fun game to play we play it every day.
Great to do when you're bored but can't be concentrating on anything important. It does the trick.
We love playing with our sisters.
We learned to play this when we were 7. Our 4 year old loves it. When you play against the computer it's easy for you to win. It's not challenging enough that it makes our kid wanna give up. Our 2 year old doesn't get it but it's interesting enough that we can do some cleaning done. :).
More mindless fun from Optime! Recommended for all.
We just love these cute simple games.
But we would like an update to iOS 7.
We like that you can play against co put error with another person who is with you.
We love these old games and playing them on our iPhone.
You just gotta love the classics… We just wish there was online gaming.
You can beat your friends easy you can be a master to just keep trying and we beat you will win. GOOD LUCK.
The kids really enjoy playing this game.
Like it. Fun game to occupy the brain for a few minutes.
This is such a fun game! Whether playing against the computer or another person, it's great fun! Good strategy game for our six-year d grandson! Thanks.
Best game ever Tons of fun on the iPad with 2 real people.
Great way to kill time, also fun to try and make designs while playing.
The game is very fun but if you can add a level hard to make it even more fun. We will be very happy.
Good app to pass time in boring days.
We really enjoy this game and beating our phone (most of the time). Commuting is so much less boring.
But too easy to beat computer.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.65
- Size: 49.40 MB
- iOS: 8.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Optime Software LLC
Last updated: 1st July 2018 | Genre: Entertainment, Board | Developer: Optime Software LLC