Timbiriche is the name most of Latin America and Mexico uses for the game English speakers usually call Dots and Boxes -- the pen-and-paper classic where a grid of dots slowly fills in with lines until every box belongs to someone. RivalPit's version now has an optional dice mechanic layered on top of the exact same box-claiming rules, borrowed from the roll-and-move rhythm of Ludo. This guide covers every rule in full, then walks through how the strategy shifts once your turn length depends on a die roll instead of always being exactly one line.
The board and the goal
Timbiriche is played on a grid of dots -- RivalPit supports boards from 3x3 up to 6x6 boxes. Two players take turns; each turn is spent drawing horizontal or vertical lines that connect two adjacent dots. The moment a line completes the fourth and final side of a box, that box is claimed by whoever drew the line, marked with their color. When every box on the board has been claimed, the game ends and whoever claimed more boxes wins.
The core rule change: roll before you draw
In classic Timbiriche and Dots and Boxes, a turn is simple: draw one line, then it's your opponent's turn -- unless you closed a box, in which case you draw another line immediately. The dice version changes how many lines you get, not what a line does or what closing a box means.
- Roll the die. At the start of your turn, before you can draw anything, you roll a standard six-sided die. You'll see the result appear as a die face at the top of the board.
- That number is your line budget. If you roll a 4, you have 4 lines to draw this turn. You can draw them anywhere legal on the board, in any order, one at a time.
- Each line spends one from your budget. Draw a line, your remaining count drops by one.
- Closing a box refunds one line. If the line you just drew completed the fourth side of a box, you claim that box and your remaining count goes up by one -- so closing a box doesn't cost you anything from your roll, exactly like the classic go-again rule, just expressed as a running counter instead of an instant extra turn.
- Your turn ends at zero. Once your remaining-lines count reaches zero, play passes to your opponent, who rolls their own die and repeats the process.
- No skipping the roll. You cannot draw a line before rolling. Every turn starts with the die, no exceptions, whether you're playing pass-and-play, against the computer, or online against a real opponent.
A worked example
Say you roll a 3. You draw your first line -- nothing closes, so you have 2 lines left. Your second line happens to complete a box: you claim it, and because closing a box adds a line back, you now have 2 lines left again (1 remaining, plus 1 bonus). Your third line completes another box in the same chain -- another bonus line, so you're back up to 1 remaining. You draw a fourth line that doesn't complete anything, and your turn ends at zero, having drawn 4 lines and claimed 2 boxes off a roll of 3. That chain-capture snowball is the single biggest thing the dice mechanic adds to the game.
How strategy changes with dice
The chain rule matters even more
In classic Dots and Boxes, experienced players avoid drawing the third side of any box, because that hands your opponent a free capture -- and if several boxes are already connected in a chain, one careless line can hand over the whole chain at once. With dice, that danger is amplified: your opponent might roll high enough, or already have leftover lines, to clear an entire open chain in a single turn instead of needing several turns to work through it. Counting how many "safe" lines are left on the board -- moves that don't open a third side anywhere -- is more important than ever.
A low roll is a forced, careful decision
Rolling a 1 means you get exactly one line this turn, same as the entire classic game used to give you every turn. Treat it exactly like you would in the original game: look for a genuinely safe line, or if none exists, use the double-cross technique -- sacrifice the smallest possible chain (leaving your opponent just two boxes instead of a long run) rather than opening your longest chain.
A high roll rewards board awareness
Rolling a 5 or 6 is where the dice version diverges most from the original: you may be forced to draw several lines in the same turn even after you've made all the safe moves you can see, which can mean you're the one who has to crack open a chain for your opponent by the end of your own turn. Before you start spending a big roll, scan the whole board first and plan out your full sequence of lines rather than drawing reactively one at a time -- with 5 or 6 lines to place, the order you draw them in can determine whether you end your turn safely or hand over a chain.
Captures compound -- use that
Because every capture adds a line back to your count, a good roll combined with an already-open chain is the strongest position in the dice version of the game: you can potentially clear the entire chain without ever running out of lines, since each capture pays for the next line. If you see an opponent leave a chain open on a turn where you're about to roll, that chain is now worth pursuing aggressively -- there's a real chance your roll plus the chain's own captures will let you take all of it in one turn.
Where the dice version is available
The dice mechanic applies across every way you can play Timbiriche on RivalPit: pass-and-play on one device, solo against the computer, and real-time online matches with a friend via a challenge link. In online play, the die itself is rolled on RivalPit's own server rather than in either player's browser, and every line drawn is checked against the current game state server-side -- so the dice result and the line-by-line rules are exactly as fair and tamper-proof online as they are sitting across the table from someone.
Prefer the original?
The dice mechanic is exclusive to Timbiriche. RivalPit's Dots & Boxes is unchanged -- still the classic one-line-per-turn game, with the same go-again rule for closing a box, no dice involved. Both games share the same underlying box-claiming logic, so every chain-counting and double-cross skill you build in one carries straight over to the other.
Frequently asked questions
What is Timbiriche?
Timbiriche is the Latin American and Mexican name for the classic pen-and-paper game most commonly known as Dots and Boxes: players take turns drawing one line between two adjacent dots, and whoever draws the fourth side of a box claims it. RivalPit's Timbiriche now adds an optional Ludo-style dice mechanic on top of the same underlying rules.
How many lines do you draw per turn in dice Timbiriche?
Whatever number you roll on the six-sided die, from 1 to 6. You draw that many lines before your turn passes, with the count refreshed by one extra line every time you close a box.
What happens if you roll a 6 and close several boxes?
Your remaining-lines count keeps growing every time you close a box, so a strong roll combined with an open chain of boxes can let you clear an entire chain in a single turn -- exactly the situation the classic chain rule was designed to punish, so it is now more valuable than ever to avoid leaving one open.
Does the dice roll happen before or after you draw a line?
Always before. You must roll at the start of your turn before you're allowed to draw any lines -- there is no way to draw first and roll after.
What board sizes does Timbiriche support?
3x3 up to 6x6 grids of boxes, the same range as RivalPit's classic Dots & Boxes. The dice mechanic works identically at every size.