Sprouts+
Conway & Paterson's 1967 game
Free · In-App Purchases · Designed for iPad
Sprouts is a mathematical game invented in 1967 by John H. Conway and Michael S. Paterson. The rules are simple. Two players start with a certain number of Dots. They take turns drawing a Line connecting any two Dots or connecting a Dot back onto itself. After each Line is drawn an additional Dot is added along the newly drawn Line. No Line can cross another Line. A Dot can have up to three Lines connected to it. The players take turns drawing a Line until no additional Lines can be drawn. The player who drew the last Line wins the game. The app color codes each Dot to indicate if it has three lines connected to it, is reachable by another Dot or is blocked by lines and cannot be reached.
The strategy of the game is to divide the Dots into M groups by encircling Dots so that Lines cannot be connected to them from Dots in the other groups. M starts at 1 and increases as the players draw Lines that encircle Dots to form additional groups. Note that each time a Line is drawn, it fills two connections on preexisting Dots and it creates a new Dot that has one additional connection so the total number of connections is decreased by one (i.e. -2 + 1 = -1) for each new Line drawn. Note also that the last Line drawn in each encircled group will always generate a new Dot with one unfilled connection. If the game starts with N Dots that represents 3*N unfilled connections and there can therefore be 3*N Lines drawn minus one Line for each of the M groups formed during the game. This number will be even if N-M is even (2*N is always even) and odd if N-M is odd. To be the last player to draw a Line, the player who plays first will want to form M groups such that N-M is odd while the player who plays second will want to form M' groups such that N-M' is even.
The app allows you to play with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 Dots. Two Dot games are unlimited. Other games require a Token. The game comes with 20 Tokens. Additional Tokens can be purchased through an IAP: 25 Tokens for $1, 100 Tokens for $2 (approximately).
The game can be played on one device or on two connected devices connected through local WiFi or the Game Center. Using the Game Center you can invite friends and use SharePlay to incorporate a FaceTime window and voice communication. Alternatively you can play with a random player at a matching skill level.
Ratings & Reviews
This app has not received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
Resolved overlapping Dot bug
Added option to use current game when connecting via WiFi or GameCenter
The developer, Peter Kramer, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Provider
- Peter Kramer
- Size
- 7.5 MB
- Category
- Puzzle
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.6 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 15.6 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.6 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.6 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 12.5 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Package of 100 Tokens QAR 7.99
- Package of 25 Tokens QAR 2.99
- Copyright
- © 2025 Peter B. Kramer
