Dimpled Football 2026

Dimpled Football is a two-player game played on a square board of any size, initially empty. The top and bottom board edges are colored black. The left and right edges are colored white.

Black must form an orthogonally (horizontally and/or vertically) interconnected path of black stones connecting the two black edges of the board. White must connect the two white edges.

Crosscuts and footballsA “crosscut” is a 2×2 area containing two diagonally adjacent black stones, and two diagonally adjacent white stones.

A “football” is a 3×3 area containing a black stone and a white stone in diagonally opposite corners. These are the football “tips”. Each tip is horizontally adjacent to an opposite colored stone and vertically adjacent to an opposite colored stone. The football “center” is unoccupied, and is represented by a blue dot. Each of the two remaining two points in the 3×3 area can be unoccupied, or occupied by either color of stone.

PlayThe two players, Black and White, take turns placing their own stones onto unoccupied points, one stone per turn, starting with Black. Passing is not allowed, but if you don't have an available placement, your turn is skipped. Players are not allowed to form a crosscut.

If your placement forms a football, you must “dimple” the football by moving one of its tips to its center.

If moving a football tip to the football center causes a new football to form, you must then move a tip of the new football to the new football center (but not by undimpling the previously dimpled football). When there are no more footballs, your turn is concluded.

Design notesDimpled Football was inspired by Luis Bolaños Mures’s Crosswake (2026).