AJ's blog

A long time ago, on my Dad's computer, we had this set of games. Despite the mediocre review, and how old they are, there was one game that used to enjoy way back when, and that was Foggy Boxes.

Basically, this is how Foggy Boxes is played:

• You have a grid of dots.
  
• You (and an opponent) take turns connecting two dots.
  
• If you complete a square, you get a point, and you are allowed to take another turn.
  
• Once all the dots are connected, whoever completed the most squares wins the game
  

I enjoyed this playing this game when I was younger, so I created my own version of the game to play. Although, instead of calling it Foggy Boxes (which is probably trademarked or something), I refer to my version by the generic name, Dots and Boxes.



It's still a work in progress, so it's kind of rough around the edges. The AI is pretty decent, I think; if there is an opportunity for it to score points, it will always choose the best move to get it the most possible points on that turn. That's not to say that it always make the best move; The AI trys to get the most possible points on each turn, it doesn't take into account what might happen on its next turn, or where the player might have to move next. It's pretty decent on offense, but it can't play defensively at all; If there is no place for it to score a point, its move is totally random.

To play, just click to place your line. If you complete a box, the box will be filled with an "O", and you get to go again. The AI will take its turn instantly; It's a little difficult to see where it placed its line if you don't watch close because it's real quick (i'll fix this in later versions). When you complete a game, a restart button will appear on the bottom right.



You can either launch the game via Web Start (the left button) or download/open the JAR file (the right button).
Enjoy.