What is the history of Dots-and-Boxes, and How did we get to where we are at right now?

Well, on to the scenario at hand: There’s no way 5x5 would stay default if DnB became as popular as chess, but I’m going even further and say that even 7x7 might not suffice if it came to that. Let me provide some historical background as to how 5x5 became as “solved” as it is right now. I’d say there was like 3 major metagame-periods on littlegolem: The first one didn’t really have anything like opening theory, it was mostly just figuring out how the game works and the player michael did very well there. Then the second one was a huge flipster hype who came up with 1.f3 2.h9 and the strategys surrounding it and that was a thing until very recently with sghsal at it’s peak. Okay, and then 7ics appeared out of nowhere who was pretty strong but learned an entirely different metagame somewhere else and he was convincing others that 1.f3 was actually a pretty bad move all along and that’s where we’re now. So instead of 1.f3, 1.f5 is now the move that has gained increasing popularity, but there’s an issue with 1.f5: it’s too strong. The 1.f3 2.h9 period was really great since the second player had really good chances there and the first player advantage seemed very unimportant so it was a lot fun playing, but 1.f5 doesn’t have that. Well, on with the main point… just a few strong players managed to break 5x5 down to what it is now. But all these players who explored it put together wouldn’t even matter in a community as big as the one for chess. There would be several thousands of players stronger than I and they would destroy 5x5 during the blink of an eye.

-Dryad- (The best future for Dots-and-Boxes…?)

I guess that sums it up pretty nicely. There is a historical tendence that good players come out of nowhere and dominate pretty much everything. I have seen it happen a couple of times now. The only stable player that has been active in the time I have been playing is Geoff.

I'd like to point out that even on 1.f5 the second player seems to win a lot of games nowadays (and I am not referring to games between weak players).

Secondly, where is Geoff then?