Play Spot - The Video Game Online

Spot came out for the NES in 1990, published by Virgin Mastertronic. It was part of that wave of puzzle games that tried to offer something a little different from the action platformers dominating the system. You don't control a character so much as you control a strategy, which felt novel at the time.

You play by connecting dots on a grid, trying to complete boxes before your opponent does. Each time you finish a square, you claim it and get another turn. The screen fills up with your color or theirs, and the goal is simply to own more of the board by the end. It starts calmly but the pace picks up drastically as the grid gets crowded; one misplaced line can hand your opponent a huge chain of captures. It feels like a quiet, thoughtful duel that suddenly erupts into tense, rapid fire decision making.