Welcome to Pencil and Paper Games!
Pencil and Paper Games is devoted to games you can play with nothing more than a pencil and a piece of paper. These games are ideal for entertaining children and adults on rainy days or dark evenings, at home or on holiday.
A unique feature of this site is that you can play many of the games on-line against our resident game-player. Optionally enter your name to keep score for each game.
New! Play 3D Noughts and Crosses, Go Moku, and Domineering.
Territory games
Go-Moku - Play!
Players take turns in marking squares on a grid. The first player to get five squares in a row wins.
Battleships
Players take turns in trying to guess the locations of the other player's ships on a grid.
3D Noughts and Crosses - Play!
Players take turns in marking squares on a 4 x 4 x 4 grid. The first player to get four squares in a row wins.
Dots and Boxes
Players take turns in drawing lines between dots on a grid. The player who completes the most boxes wins.
Noughts and Crosses
Players take turns in marking squares on a 3 x 3 grid. The first player to get three squares in a row wins.
Picture games
Heads Bodies and Legs
Players take turns in drawing a head, a body, and a pair of legs, without letting the other player see them. The point of the game is the fun of seeing the resulting pictures.
Pictionary
One player has to get the other players to guess a word by drawing a picture.
Word games
Consequences
The players take turns in contributing sentences to a story. The final story is then read out, hopefully with hilarious results.
Word Square - Play!
Players create word squares with the same letters, and the one who creates the square containing the most words wins.
Countdown - Play!
Players compete to find the longest word from a set of 9 letters.
Scrambled Word Ladder Race - Play!
Each player chooses a word with the same number of letters. Both players then try to make a scrambled word ladder between the two words. The player with the shortest ladder wins.
Word Ladder Race - Play!
Each player chooses a word with the same number of letters. Both players then try to make a word ladder between the two words. The player with the shortest ladder wins.
Word Bulls & Cows - Play!
Players take turns in trying to guess each other's word.
Topological games
Cram
The players take turns linking pairs of dots on a grid. The first player unable to move loses.
Domineering - Play!
The players take turns linking pairs of dots on a grid. The first player unable to move loses.
Gale
Players take turns in linking dots on overlapping grids. The first player to draw a continuous chain linking their ends of the board wins.
Sprouts
The players take turns in joining dots according to simple rules, until one player cannot make a move.
Number games
Function Game - Play!
One player tries to guess the other player's mathematical rule.
Number Bulls & Cows - Play!
Players take turns in trying to guess each other's number.