Pen and paper games: 25 games to play with a printed sheet

The best pen and paper games need nothing more than a sheet of paper and a pencil. Tic-tac-toe, dots and boxes, hangman and battleship are the classics; gomoku, paper soccer and racetrack are great next steps for two players, and sudoku and mazes keep one person busy. Below are 25 games grouped by how you play them, each with a one-line rule and a free sheet to print.

Two-player strategy games

1. Tic-tac-toe (noughts and crosses): get three in a row on a 3×3 grid. The sheet also has 4×4 and “ultimate” grids for when the classic always ends in a draw.
2. Dots and boxes: take turns joining two neighbouring dots. Close the fourth side of a box to claim it and move again; most boxes wins.
3. Gomoku (five in a row): take turns marking points on a 15×15 board. The first unbroken line of five wins.
4. Four in a row (connect four on paper): call a column and mark its lowest empty circle. Line up four to win.
5. Paper soccer: move the ball from dot to dot. Bounce off existing lines to move again, and score in your opponent’s goal.
6. Racetrack: race cars around a track on graph paper. Each move repeats your last one, adjusted by at most one square in each direction, so braking for corners is the whole game.
7. Battleship: hide your fleet on a 10×10 grid and call coordinates to find your opponent’s ships. Sink them all first.
8. Nine men’s morris: place and move nine pieces each. Three in a row (a mill) removes an opposing piece.
9. Hex: claim hexagons to connect your two sides of the board. A game of Hex can never end in a draw.
10. Checkers (draughts): move diagonally and jump to capture, on an 8×8 board or a 10×10 international draughts board.
11. Chess: the board comes with 32 cut-out paper pieces, so you can play anywhere. Record games on a Chess Score Sheet.
12. Go: surround territory on a 9×9 beginner board, or 13×13 and 19×19. Play with coins or two colours of buttons.
13. Mancala: sow beans or beads around the pits and capture the most in your store.

Word games and solo puzzles

Word games

14. Hangman: guess the secret word letter by letter before the drawing is finished. Each sheet has an alphabet to cross out.
15. Word search: hide words in a blank letter grid and swap with a friend. Teachers use it for spelling lists.
16. Crossword: a numbered grid with across and down clue lines, ready for your own clues.
17. Categories game (also known as city-country-river): pick a letter and find a word for every category, such as city, animal and name, before time runs out. Unique answers score more.

Solo puzzles

18. Sudoku: fill the grid so every row, column and 3×3 box contains 1 to 9. Every page is a freshly generated puzzle with one solution and the answers upside down.
19. Nonogram (picross, griddler): shade squares to reveal a picture. Draw your own puzzle on the blank grid, write the clues and swap it with a friend.
20. Maze: find the one way through, from easy mazes for young children to expert and round mazes.
21. Tangram: cut out the seven pieces and rebuild cats, boats and people.

Family and group games

22. Bingo: every card has its own random numbers from 1 to 75, or print blank cards to fill with words or pictures for classroom bingo.
23. Snakes and ladders: race to square 100. Each page gets a new set of snakes and ladders, or print it blank and let children draw their own.
24. Ludo: bring all four tokens home to the centre. The board also prints in an ink-saving grayscale you can colour in.
25. Five-dice game: roll five dice up to three times per turn and score a combination in one of thirteen boxes on the score card.

The 25 games at a glance

Game	Players	Ages	Time
Tic-tac-toe	2	4+	2 min
Dots and boxes	2	6+	10 min
Gomoku	2	7+	10 min
Four in a row	2	5+	5 min
Paper soccer	2	7+	10 min
Racetrack	2–4	8+	15 min
Battleship	2	7+	20 min
Nine men’s morris	2	7+	15 min
Hex	2	8+	10 min
Checkers	2	6+	20 min
Chess	2	6+	30+ min
Go (9×9)	2	8+	20+ min
Mancala	2	5+	15 min
Hangman	2 or more	6+	5 min
Word search	1 or more	6+	10 min
Crossword	1 or more	9+	20 min
Categories game	2–8	8+	20 min
Sudoku	1	8+	10–40 min
Nonogram	1 or 2	8+	20 min
Maze	1	4+	5 min
Tangram	1 or more	4+	10 min
Bingo	3 or more	4+	15 min
Snakes and ladders	2–6	4+	20 min
Ludo	2–4	5+	30 min
Five-dice game	1–6	8+	30 min

Ages are a rough guide: younger children can play many of these with a little help.

Score sheets for card, dice and tabletop games

For games you already own, print the scoring: a general Score Sheet for 2 to 8 players, a Bridge Score Pad, a Mahjong Score Sheet with winds and rounds, and a Dou Dizhu Score Sheet for three players. Role-players can print an RPG Character Sheet and an Initiative Tracker.

Car trips, rainy days and classrooms

• Travel: a stapled game booklet and a pencil keep children busy on a long journey without screens. Mix quick duels with mazes and sudoku they can do alone.
• Rainy days: print a Ludo or Snakes and Ladders board for the whole family, or a stack of battleship sheets for a tournament.
• Classrooms: word searches and blank bingo cards with spelling words, hangman for vocabulary review and sudoku for early finishers. The classroom packs guide shows how to print sets for a whole class.

Make your own game booklet

1. Open a game in the maker, for example 12 sudoku pages in A5.
2. Use Add pages to add dots and boxes, battleship, hangman, mazes and anything else you like. Every new sudoku, maze, bingo card and snakes and ladders board is different.
3. Add the matching Game Rules Cards so everyone knows how to play.
4. Open Download PDF: choose Print-ready booklet to fold and staple an A5 game book on A4 or Letter, or Reading order for single sheets.
5. Print at Actual size / 100% so boards and grids keep their scale.

All the games are on the paper games page.

FAQ

What games can you play with just paper and a pen?

Tic-tac-toe, dots and boxes, hangman, battleship, gomoku, paper soccer, racetrack and the categories game all need only paper and a pen. Sudoku, mazes and nonograms work for playing alone.

What are good pen and paper games for two players?

Dots and boxes, battleship and gomoku are the best known. For something new, try paper soccer, racetrack or Hex, which has no draws.

What paper games can kids play alone?

Mazes, word searches, tangram and easy sudoku are good for children playing alone, and nonograms for older kids who like puzzles.

How do you play dots and boxes?

Players take turns joining two neighbouring dots with a line. Whoever draws the fourth side of a box writes their initial in it and takes another turn. When all boxes are claimed, the player with the most wins.