Jessica
Dickson and Rachel Perrier
Department of
Mathematics and Statistics
Washington State University
Title:
Dots-and-Polygons
Abstract:
Dots-and-Boxes is a popular children's
game whose winning strategies have been studied by
Berlekamp, Conway, Guy, and others. We consider two
variations, Dots-and-Triangles and Dots-and-Polygons,
both of which utilize the same lattice game board
structure as Dots-and-Boxes. The nature of these
variations along with this lattice structure lends
itself to applying Pick's theorem to calculate claimed
area. Several strategies similar to those studied in
Dots-and-Boxes are used to analyze these new
variations.