Hello everyone,

after years of nothing to talk about I got something that I feel should be brought up.

Aldiris once asked where the players of littlegolem rank in the worlds top. Aside from littlegolem the only website I know of where dots and boxes is played at a decent level is jijbent.nl as well as its english and german clones. Since I joined these websites in 2012 I had been under the impression that these are likely the only places with players anywhere near my own level. This was false.

Three incredibly talented players joined littlegolem a while ago: cocorifle, Lazy_Bear and Hussainx350. They have been giving me a hard time and in fact I just lost the ongoing championship to cocorifle. As I talked to them I found out that they are friends who came from a mobile app called plato. Eventually I decided to download said app and check the place out. It didn't take very long until I met sophiaaa21, another talented player, in platos ranked queue. We befriended each other and I asked her about cocorifle, lazy_bear and hussain. She was fairly new to the app herself so she asked her Iranian friend rezram720 who has been on plato for years. It turns out rezram has an account on littlegolem and knew who I was and so he told me that he knows some pretty good Iranian players that might be interested in playing me. I told them that I would to play them and so the next day it happens: I get about 10 friend requests from Iranian players and played a bunch of live games with them. To my surprise these Iranians weren't just good, some of them were on my level, perhaps even higher. It appears that they are mostly playing on a persian app called Bazam Bazi where they do guild wars in Dots and Boxes. I didn't really get into Bazam Bazi as I can't read persian which made it unattractive to me, but supposedly there is quite a bunch of high level clans. Honestly, it's possible that there is like 50 people who are as strong as me there, which is beyond impressive to me and entirely changed my perspective on the state of the game, giving me some kind of hope that this game may have a future in which high level play might become more frequent.

Their curiosity in me has also led some of them here in search for more strong players, recently a bunch of good games have been played here. If you are curious check out the monthly cup of January or this list of players:
Amir_ees
Hooshesiyah
GermanGenius
strong_z
dromedary_hh
player05
I actually only know that Amir and Hooshesiyah are part of the Iranian community, but either way the other people are also incredible, likewise definitely check out cocorifle, lazy_bear, hussain and sophia if you wanna see some solid play.

I have also written down some of the live games I played with Hooshesiyah on plato:
purgency vs hooshe_siyah
https://www.trmph.com/dnb/board#5,k6c8d11f3k4c6j5c10b7c4a4g10d1c2f1g8b1i10h1g6h7f9g4i6h5j7h9i8h11a6b5a2b3e2d3g2 h vs p, winner: h
https://www.trmph.com/dnb/board#5,k6b7a6e10d5d7d9j5g10h5h7g4h1f3f1d3h9i8g8b9f7a4k8d1b3j1j3j9 h vs p, winner: p
https://www.trmph.com/dnb/board#5,f1i8k8d9d11c4a4c2a8i10k6i6h11b7a6b1k4i4h7g4h1d7i2f7f11e10c10c8b9e8g8f9h9g10c6b5a2b3e2f5k2k10b11a10d3d1d5e6g6h5e4g2f3h3j1j3j5j7j9j11 p vs h, winner: h
https://www.trmph.com/dnb/board#5,f1f9f11i6k6i8k8f3h11h3h9g4h5i4d3e2g2e8d9d5b3b5a6c10k4b7c6d7c8e6f5e4a4c4g6g8f7h7j9j7j5j3j11a10j1b1 p vs h, winner: h
https://www.trmph.com/dnb/board#5,k6c8a6f3a4h3g2b3d1d3a2b9d9g8e4f7j7h9j9c6e8d7f9d11e10c10h11g10f11i10f1e2b1c2e6d5c4b5b7a8h5i8h7k8 h vs p, winner: p
https://www.trmph.com/dnb/board#5,k6c8a6f3e2h3i2d9k2b7d11i4k4b11f11f9h11e10g10c10i6k8i8g6h9i10d3e8d7f5 h vs p, winner: p
http://trmph.com/dnb/board#5,i6c8a6i4j5h3h1i8j9h9j1i2g2e8g6e6b7d5d3e4c4f9b5c6d7d9f11e10g10b11c10d11d1c2e2 h vs p, winner: p
https://www.trmph.com/dnb/board#5,f1f11f7f3h7e8g10d3e4h3e6j5i4d9d11b7a8g2e2j1j3k4i6a10g6h5f5g4g8f9e10c10h9i8a6j9 p vs h, winner: p

Actually wanted to make this a new years post, took me only 1.5 months to find the energy to write stuff lmao

nice Topic
Yes I Am New On This Website I Am Lack Of Exp in Trun Based You Guys Have More Exp Then Me.
In Here I basically do not spend much time thinking about the game and I do the first move that comes to mind like a live game I Am Lazy To Think Lol..
i Perer To Play Live Game because It has a lot of excitement and stress And Everyone Are Same In Trun Based With A Lot Think
So Lets join our Plato Group For Live Playing If You Guys Are Agree With This
germangenius And Others Good Players
Its More Cool To Play there In Plato Thanks.

Hi, welcome to Littlegolem everyone, it's awesome to see so many strong new players!

Amir, I'm not really playing anymore, but I have checked out the Plato App out of curiosity, and it seems really bad (annoying UI, complete lack of a good ranked system, frequent misclicks, tons of trolls who are really weak and just seem they want to waste our time, etc.). There have to be better alternatives for those who want to play live games instead of turn-based.

hey loony!
there used to be a better matchmaking system on plato but last updates just ruined everything (currently there is no turn_based games in ranked mode and I have no idea why but you have to play a 8x8 board instead of 5x5…) soooo I don't really recommend you to join plato at the moment because you won't be able to match with a good player :(

and I'd like to say a few words!
I don't really know why I fell in love with dots and boxes( my brother still makes fun of me for playing this “stupid game”!) but I've been enjoying the game ever since I started (which is about 3 years ago when I was 15?). I met a guy who knew about the chain rules and tole me something like “first player goes for even number of chains and second player goes for odd”, it didn't make sense to me at all and I didn't get to play with him anymore so I just kept playing. at that time there was no pro player in plato's queue so I played hundreds of games with weak players trying to figure out how this precious formula works but I didn't improve that much. then found a few players who also knew about the chain rules like me but nothing else. we had no idea how to use this trick in our favors. we would play randomly and at the end a heroic sacrifice was made and luckily one of us could have the number of chains they wanted. although I came up with a few strategies( I'm not that dumb after all). I was pretty sure I was one of the best dots and boxes players in history xd then I met dear cocorifle on plato and we both were good enough to challenge each other! after a while he became better and better and I could not beat him anymore ( I still can't apparently). at the same time I matched with someone whose bio was “dots and boxes is my game” and I found it interesting so we played a couple of times! I mean he wasn't like too too too bad, he was just too too bad (just kidding) so this guy is the famous “hussainx350” and at time he had learned the chain rules and he just needed a little push. since that day we've played thousands of games and he is kinda my Dots and boxes brother (if that's even a thing) and now he is better than me! anyways I was the best dots and boxes player of history after cocorifle, right? but one day he said that he believed there was a player better than him. ok now I'm the 3rd greater player of history and Im fine with it but who is this person who can beat cocorifle? sylph? little golem? I really needed to check this place out and here I am! I like this place and I've become better at dots and boxes thanks to sylph and other nice players here (which most of them are inactive for a reason). oh and I forgot to mention that I met one of amir_ess's friend and I lost to him a couple of times. then he introduced me his friends (including amir_ess and hooshe_syah and some other good players). they took turns to destroy me and that night I lost about 100 games and since then I didn't mention about being a Dots and Boxes top player anymore and I will never do! and one more thing sylph said realizing the fact that dots and boxes is being played in other places as well is giving him hope but I wouldn't that. I beleive board games' era is coming to an end and Dots and Boxes is no exception! I mean imagine you are a teenager, do you choose playing dots and boxes and use your mind or just play a action videogame all day and be toxic to other people? second one apparently! I just checked and in the first championships on little golem there was over a hundred players competing but today? 30 people! we can't revive the game of dots and boxes but we can enjoy it and that is should be a good reason keep playing I guess. at least I am still passionate about the game but I have no idea how long it'll last. so that's it! I just wanted to share you guys my experience and you don't need to say how boring it was, I already know xd thanks!
laziest bear alive

Hi Tony .
Finally i saw You XD
Purgency told me that you are great in this game like her.
Plato Right Now Havent problem if you play friendly games ( Playing With Friends Only)
But Don't Join dots & Boxes Ranks Right Now They Pick Up 5 X 5 and Bring 8 X 8 instead Of 5 X 5.
And Is There No Fun Because They Are Noobs Right Now To Play With Them And have Fun
If You Want I Can Invite My Friends to A Group (They Are Looking For Strong Players too Haha)
And About frequent misclicks. In live games, there is a certain time to move. This is about ''10'' seconds, And if you do not move at that time, the robot will Make a Random Move For You
and because Of This the game becomes more attractive in live games.
I Think You Are just Not accustomed to Live Games
We Have Two More App For Iran In Dots & Boxes
Its Called ''Bazam Bazi ''
And One More Is ''Noghtekhat''
But Is Only For Iran (We Are Talk our Language Only)
You May Not Like It
So At The moment Only plato There For Dots & Boxes Live Games
In Iran We Dont Have Any Dots& boxes Game For Trun Based lol That's why we're weaker here

When We Are Meet Purgency for First Time We thought She is one of us and she is Iranian And Want To Befool Us

We did not think that foreigners would play this game and be so professional and Still Many Of Them Noy Belive Purgency It is not from one country, so we were surprised Too Haha

This is one of the most interesting conversations I've read here! Welcome!

(I don't know much about Dots and Boxes and so never play, haha.)

Amir,
indeed I have never really played live games. But even turn-based games I gave up 5 years ago, so I'm pretty out of the loop right now. I just love reading about all you strong players, it's fascinating!
How comes this game is so popular in Iran? Since when are there so many strong players? May I ask how you guys learned the game? There are not many tutorials out there, and the few good ones are hard to find. Have you guys mostly just played thousands of games vs yourselves to get better?

Lazy Bear,
you seem very likeable. :) Of course we all know Dots and Boxes is the best game in the world and extremely deep, but it happens to all of us that people make fun of us for that; it's to be expected considering its reputation as a children's game. ^^

I too thought that sylph and I were the world's best players for a few years, but suddenly with the Iranian community being presented I begin to seriously doubt that. That's cool though. :D
I wouldn't write off the board game community, it has always been small but with passionate players. From those 200 players in the first championships here maybe 5-10 knew the chain rule at all, it's normal the game gets boring for anyone else as it doesn't really make sense as a strategic game otherwise, so I'm not even sure the numbers have decreased if you only count serious players.
We had some pretty strong players here in the past, it's a bit sad we will probably never see matches or a comparison to the new generation as almost all of them are inactive right now, as you said. I also know of a player who hasn't really played much on LG but was still as strong as the best of us at their peak, but I haven't seen them around in the past few years. :/

Loony
I'm sad to hear that you do not play anymore because we wanted to play with you Or Others Old Players From here
This is because we have a lot of Apps for the dots & Boxes.
We are competing in live games In Guild Wars
It certainly has a lot of stress and excitement
The good thing about online games is that you do not have to wait for your opponent to move
Whats Is I Dont Like from Trun Based I Hate About Waiting Only For One move :(
We may play almost a hundred times in an hour In Live Game, but here in one hour only one move ..Haha But Be sure Move confidently only in Trun Based games
Btw some Of Them Playing Around 10 Years(Hooshesiyah) Like Syplh
I have only been playing for 9 months, but maybe I have played over 30,000 games
we Have Many Strong Player In Bazambazi Aslo They Are Pretty Good Aslo.
and Yes We learned the methods of 5X5 Borad over a long period of time With Playing too Much With Toghter
We played for many hours I Am Never Tired For Playing Dots & Boxes
We Are Playing 6x7 board in old Time Some Of Them are Great on There Aslo .
but I Am Enjoyed More In 5x5 Is The Best Board For Dots & boxes.

Happy to read this as an old player. Very cool to learn that this game is also enjoyed outside little golem.