Strategy upright=1.35|thumb|Example game of Dots and Boxes on a 2×2 square board. The second player ("B") plays a rotated mirror image of the first player's moves, hoping to divide the board into two pieces and tie the game. But the first player ("A") makes a sacrifice at move 7 and B accepts the sacrifice, getting one box. However, B must now add another line, and so B connects the center dot to the center-right dot, causing the remaining unscored boxes to be joined in a chain (shown at the end of move 8). With A's next move, A gets all three of them and ends the game, winning 3–1. thumb|upright=1.35|The "double-cross" strategy: faced with position 1, a novice player would create position 2 and lose. An experienced player would create position 3 and win. For most novice players, the game begins with a phase of more-or-less randomly connecting dots, where the only strategy is to avoid adding the third side to any box. This continues until all the remaining (potential) boxes are joined into chains – groups of one or more adjacent boxes in which any move gives all the boxes in the chain to the opponent. At this point, players typically take all available boxes, then open the smallest available chain to their opponent. For example, a novice player faced with a situation like position 1 in the diagram on the right, in which some boxes can be captured, may take all the boxes in the chain, resulting in position 2. But with their last move, they have to open the next, larger chain, and the novice loses the game..
Strategy upright=135|thumb|Example game of Dots and Boxes on a 2×2 square board The second player ("B") plays a rotated mirror image of the first player's moves hoping to divide the board into two pieces and tie the game But the first player ("A") makes a sacrifice at move 7 and B accepts the sacrifice getting one box However B must now add another line and so B connects the center dot to the center-right dot causing the remaining unscored boxes to be joined in a chain (shown at the end of move 8) With A's next move A gets all three of them and ends the game winning 3–1 thumb|upright=135|The "double-cross" strategy faced with position 1 a novice player would create position 2 and lose An experienced player would create position 3 and win For most novice players the game begins with a phase of more-or-less randomly connecting dots where the only strategy is to avoid adding the third side to any box This continues until all the remaining (potential) boxes are joined into chains – groups of one or more adjacent boxes in which any move gives all the boxes in the chain to the opponent At this point players typically take all available boxes then open the smallest available chain to their opponent For example a novice player faced with a situation like position 1 in the diagram on the right in which some boxes can be captured may take all the boxes in the chain resulting in position 2 But with their last move they have to open the next larger chain and the novice loses the game