Paper soccer maker

How to play

1. The ball starts on the ring in the centre of the pitch. Agree who plays first.
2. On your turn, draw one line from the ball's dot to a neighbouring dot. Horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines all count.
3. The ball then moves to the dot at the end of your line. A line can never be drawn twice.
4. If the ball lands on a dot that already has a line touching it, or on the edge of the pitch, you move again from that dot.
5. Score by reaching your opponent's goal. Player 1 attacks the top goal and Player 2 attacks the bottom goal.
6. You lose if you get stuck, which means the ball has no unused line to move along.

Tips

• Use the small pitch for a quick game and the large pitch for a longer, more careful one.
• Print two pitches per page to share a single sheet between two games.
• Keep a spare sheet for practice. Planning a few moves on paper makes the real game easier to follow.
• Agree before you start how many goals end the game, so both players know when it is over.

Where it comes from

In Poland the game is called piłkarzyki na kartce, which roughly means little footballers on paper. It is played on squared paper, where the ball moves from dot to dot along the lines and bounces when it reaches a point that has already been used.

Played in: Europe

Questions