Connect the dots (also known as connect-the-dots, dot to dot, join the dots or follow the dots) is a form of

puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...

containing a sequence of numbered dots. When a line is drawn connecting the dots the outline of an object is revealed. The puzzles frequently contain simple

line art Line art or line drawing is any image that consists of distinct straight lines or curved lines placed against a background (usually plain). Two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects are often represented through shade (darkness) or hue (co ...

to enhance the image created or to assist in rendering a complex section of the image. Connect the dots puzzles are generally created for

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

. The use of numbers can be replaced with letters or other symbols. Versions for older solvers frequently have extra solving steps to discover the order, such as those used in

puzzlehunt A puzzle hunt (sometimes рuzzlehunt) is an event where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles, many of which are tied together via metapuzzles. Puzzlehunt puzzles are usually not accompanied by direct instructions for how to solve them; ...

s and the connect-the-dots crosswords invented by Liz Gorski. The roots of connecting dots to create pictures or help with calligraphy can be traced back to the 19th century. The

Nine Dots Puzzle The nine dots puzzle is a mathematical puzzle whose task is to connect nine squarely arranged points with a pen by four (or fewer) straight lines without lifting the pen or retracing any lines. The puzzle has appeared under various other names ov ...

is the first known puzzle game where the player has to connect dots. But in this variant the goal is not to draw a picture, but to solve a

logic puzzle A logic puzzle is a puzzle deriving from the mathematics, mathematical field of deductive reasoning, deduction. History The logic puzzle was first produced by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who is better known under his pen name Lewis Carroll, the a ...

. The emergence of connect the dots games in the printed press takes place in the early 20th century. These games were published with other puzzle games as pastime for children on the Sunday edition. While the first books containing connect the dots games exclusively were printed in 1926 by

Ward, Lock & Co Ward, Lock & Co. was a publishing house in the United Kingdom that started as a partnership and developed until it was eventually absorbed into the publishing combine of Orion Publishing Group. History Ebenezer Ward and George Lock started a p ...

The phrase "connect the dots" can be used as a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

to illustrate an ability (or inability) to associate one

idea In philosophy and in common usage, an idea (from the Greek word: ἰδέα (idea), meaning 'a form, or a pattern') is the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophe ...

with another—to find the "big picture", or salient feature, in a mass of data; it can mean using extrapolation to solve a mystery from clues, or else come to a conclusion from various facts. The Connect the Dots drawing technique of

GPS Drawing GPS drawing, also known as GPS art, is a method of drawing where an artist uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) device and follows a pre-planned route to create a large-scale picture or pattern. The .GPX data file recorded during the drawing pro ...

involves recording an artists GPS data only at certain points along the route. This can give the image the appearance of a dot to dot puzzle as most of the lines are straight no matter the geography of the area.

Reuven Feuerstein Reuven Feuerstein (; August 21, 1921 – April 29, 2014) was a Romanian-born Israeli clinical, developmental, and cognitive psychologist, known for his theory of intelligence. Feuerstein is recognized for his work in developing the theories and a ...

features the connection of dots as the first tool in his

cognitive development Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of the developed adult bra ...

program. The

travelling salesman problem In the Computational complexity theory, theory of computational complexity, the travelling salesman problem (TSP) asks the following question: "Given a list of cities and the distances between each pair of cities, what is the shortest possible ...

asks what numbers to assign to a set of points to minimize the length of the drawing.

References

{{Authority control Puzzles

See also

References