Conquer · History guide
The history of the dots encirclement game
A school game with no inventor and no publisher, played on squared paper from Kuala Lumpur to Kraków — and taken seriously enough in Eastern Europe to have tournaments.
The short answer
- The game has no known inventor — it spread as a school paper game.
- It is called Точки in Russia, Kropki in Poland, Židi in Czech and Kepung Titik in Malay.
- The traditional Russian board is the 39×32 grid of a standard squared copybook.
- It resembles Go but connects diagonally, cannot use the edge, and lets captured dots be revived.
- Poland and Russia have organised tournaments, rating systems and opening theory.
A game that lives in exercise books
This is a school game. It has no publisher, no inventor and no official rules, because it has always been played in the margins of exercise books with two coloured pens — and that is exactly why it exists in so many countries under so many names.
The best documented branch is the Eastern European one. In Russia and the former Soviet Union the game is Точки (Tochki, "dots"), traditionally played on the 39×32 grid of a standard Russian squared copybook — a detail that tells you everything about where the game lived. In Poland it is Kropki, in the Czech Republic Židi.
In Malaysia and Indonesia the same idea is played under Malay names built on kepung, "to surround" or "to besiege". As with every playground game, spellings and local rules vary from school to school.
The relationship with Go
The obvious comparison is Go, and the resemblance is real: both are about surrounding, both reward shape over material, and both punish greed. But the differences are sharper than they look.
| Go | Encirclement dots | |
|---|---|---|
| Connection | Orthogonal only | All eight directions, including diagonals |
| Capture | Remove liberties of a group | Close a complete ring around enemy stones |
| The edge | The board edge helps you enclose | The edge cannot be used — you must close the ring yourself |
| Captured stones | Removed from the board | Stay on the paper but are dead |
| Recovery | None — captures are final | Enclosing your own dead dots revives them |
| Equipment | A board and stones | Any squared paper and two pens |
The diagonal connection is the big one. It makes rings much easier to complete, so the game is faster and more tactical than Go — closer to a knife fight than to a slow territorial argument.
The competitive scene
Eastern Europe took the game seriously enough to organise it. There are online servers, rating systems and tournaments for Kropki and Точки, with a body of opening theory and a standard large board. Competitive rule sets add the grounding rule — groups connected to the border are safe — to stop endless edge fighting, and formalise how the game ends.
Computer play is harder than it looks. The branching factor on a large grid is enormous, the capture condition is a graph problem rather than a local one, and evaluating an unfinished ring requires understanding how many moves it would take to close — which is exactly what a strong engine must estimate.
It remains, above all, a paper game: two colours, one sheet, and an argument about whether that ring was really closed.
Common questions
Who invented the dots encirclement game?
Nobody known. Like most paper games it spread through schools rather than through publishers, which is why it exists in many countries under different names.
Is it the same as Go?
No, although it is clearly related in spirit. Dots connect diagonally, capture requires a complete ring rather than removing liberties, captured dots stay on the paper, and the board edge cannot be used to enclose.
What is Точки?
The Russian name for the game, meaning "dots". It is traditionally played on the 39×32 grid of a Russian squared copybook and has an organised competitive scene.
What does Kepung mean?
It is the Malay and Indonesian word for surrounding or besieging — which is exactly what the game is about.
Is it played competitively?
Yes, especially in Poland and Russia, where there are online servers, ratings and tournaments, usually with a grounding rule that makes border-connected groups safe.
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