Trap the Dot

Overview

Trap the Dot is a strategic puzzle mobile game played on a hexagonal grid. In Trap Mode, place blockers to prevent an intelligent dot from escaping. In Escape Mode, you become the dot — tap to move across the grid and race to the edge before the AI traps you.

Switch between modes anytime with the mode toggle. The game features a responsive hex grid, smooth animations, a minimalist dark design, and AI opponents that adapt to each mode.

Installation

System Requirements

• Platform — iOS / iPadOS
• Minimum OS — iOS 17.0 or later
• Devices — iPhone and iPad
• Orientation — Portrait
• Internet — Not required
• Storage — Minimal (under 15 MB)

Game Modes

Trap the Dot features two game modes, each offering a different side of the same hex grid.

• Trap Mode — The classic experience. You place blockers to trap the AI-controlled dot before it reaches the edge
• Escape Mode — You are the dot. Tap to move across the hex grid and race to the edge before the AI traps you

Switch between modes anytime using the mode toggle at the top of the game screen. Your game log tracks wins, losses, and times across both modes separately.

Trap Mode Rules

The game is a turn-based contest between you and the so-called "runner", aka the Dot, on an 11×11 hexagonal grid with 121 cells.

• Starting position — The runner begins at the center of the grid. 8 cells are randomly pre-blocked to give you a head start
• Your turn — Tap any open cell to place a blocker. The runner cannot pass through blockers
• Runner's turn — After you place a blocker, the runner moves one cell toward its nearest escape route using the shortest available path
• You win — When the runner has no path to any edge of the grid. It's trapped
• You lose — When the runner reaches any cell on the outer edge of the grid

Escape Mode Rules

In Escape Mode, the roles are reversed — you are the dot. Your goal is to reach any edge of the hex grid before the AI blocks you in.

• Starting position — You begin at the center of the grid, just like the AI does in Trap Mode
• Your turn — Tap any adjacent open cell to move. You can move to any of the six neighboring cells that aren't blocked
• AI's turn — After you move, the AI places a blocker to cut off your escape routes. The AI uses minimax lookahead to think multiple moves ahead
• You win — When you reach any cell on the outer edge of the grid
• You lose — When you have no path to any edge — you're trapped

The Hex Grid

The game board is a hexagonal grid — each cell has six neighbors instead of the four you'd find in a square grid. This gives the runner more directions to escape and makes the strategy more nuanced.

• Six directions — The runner can move to any of its six neighboring cells (unless blocked)
• No diagonal shortcuts — Unlike a square grid, every neighboring cell is equidistant
• Offset rows — Odd-numbered rows are shifted right to create the honeycomb pattern
• Edge cells — Any cell on the outer border of the grid (top row, bottom row, leftmost column, rightmost column). If the runner reaches one, it escapes
• Pre-placed blockers — 8 random cells start blocked, creating a unique puzzle each game

Controls

Trap the Dot uses simple one-tap controls in both modes. No menus, no complicated inputs.

Trap Mode controls

• Tap an open cell — Places a blocker on that cell. Only open, unoccupied cells can be tapped
• The runner moves automatically — After your blocker is placed, the runner takes its turn
• Move counter — Tracks how many blockers you've placed this round

Escape Mode controls

• Tap an adjacent cell — Moves your dot to that cell. You can only move to one of the six neighboring cells that aren't blocked
• The AI blocks automatically — After you move, the AI places a blocker on the board
• Move counter — Tracks how many moves you've made toward the edge

Shared controls

• Mode toggle — Switch between Trap and Escape modes at the top of the screen
• Reset — Tap the Reset button at any time to start a fresh game

Visual Guide

Each cell on the grid has a distinct visual state so you always know what's happening at a glance.

• Open cell — Translucent gray circle. Tap to block
• Blocked cell — Tan/brown filled circle. The runner can't pass through
• Runner (active) — Purple glowing dot with a continuous pulsing animation
• Runner (trapped) — Green glowing dot. You got it!
• Runner (escaping) — Dot scales up and fades out as it reaches the edge

Game States

• Playing — The status area is blank. Tap cells to block the runner's path. The move counter increments with each tap
• Won — “Gotcha!” — The runner is trapped with no path to any edge. The status text appears in green. The runner turns green and bounces between its remaining reachable cells in a panic animation
• Lost — “Got away!” — The runner has escaped by reaching an edge cell. The status text appears in red. The runner plays a scale-up and fade-out animation as it exits the grid

Understanding the AI

The AI behaves differently depending on which mode you're playing.

Trap Mode AI (the runner)

The runner uses a BFS pathfinding algorithm to find the shortest possible path to the nearest edge. Every turn, the runner recalculates and picks the most direct escape route available.

• Shortest path first — The runner always moves toward its closest escape route. It never takes a longer path when a shorter one exists
• Adapts in real-time — Every time you place a blocker, the runner recalculates the entire board and picks a new best path
• Deterministic tie-breaking — When multiple paths are equally short, the runner picks one consistently based on its search order
• No looking ahead — The runner doesn't anticipate your future moves. It only evaluates the current board state

Escape Mode AI (the trapper)

In Escape Mode, the AI plays the trapper role and uses a minimax algorithm with lookahead to decide where to place blockers.

• Minimax lookahead — The AI thinks multiple moves ahead, evaluating possible future board states before choosing where to block
• Strategic blocking — Rather than simply reacting, the AI anticipates your escape routes and places blockers to cut off your best paths
• Significantly harder — Because the AI plans ahead, Escape Mode is a much tougher challenge than Trap Mode

Beginner Tips

• Don't chase the dot — Placing blockers directly adjacent to the runner is reactive and usually a waste. Focus on cutting off escape corridors instead
• Work from the outside in — Place blockers closer to the edges early on. This narrows the runner's options before it gets there
• Use the pre-blocked cells — At the start of each round, 8 cells are already blocked. Study where they are and build your wall strategy around them
• Think in arcs, not lines — Because the grid is hexagonal, straight lines don't form walls the way you'd expect. Curve your barriers to account for six-directional movement
• Watch the runner's direction — After each move, notice where the runner goes. That tells you which edge it's targeting and where to reinforce

Advanced Strategies

• Funnel traps — Create a narrow corridor that looks like an escape route but leads to a dead end. The runner will follow it because it appears to be the shortest path... until you block the exit
• Two-front pressure — If the runner is near the center, place blockers on opposite sides to force it into a shrinking zone. The runner can only move one direction per turn, so limiting options on multiple fronts is powerful
• Economy of moves — The fewer blockers you use to trap the runner, the better your skill. A strong game can be won in 12–18 moves
• Read the grid shape — The initial 8 random blocks create a unique puzzle every time. Learn to spot favorable starting patterns and exploit clusters of pre-blocked cells
• Corner control — Corners of the grid are natural chokepoints. A few well-placed blockers near a corner can seal off a large section of the edge with minimal effort
• Force toward pre-placed blockers — Guide the runner toward cells that are already blocked to reduce the total number of blockers you need to place yourself

Game Log

The game log tracks your wins, losses, and times across both Trap and Escape modes.

• Session tracker — Toggle on/off (off by default) to track your play sessions
• Both modes tracked — Wins, losses, and times are logged separately for Trap Mode and Escape Mode
• Wins and losses — Review your best scores/times and compare your win/loss ratio
• Export your data — All session tracking is stored locally. Export to a CSV file for data backup
• Clear data — Your life, your data. Clear your data at any time for permanent deletion

Visual Design

• Dark mode interface — A deep, dark background designed for comfortable play in any lighting condition
• Responsive hex grid — The board scales smoothly to fit any iPhone or iPad screen while maintaining precise hexagonal proportions
• Animated runner — The dot features a continuous pulsing glow that shifts color based on game state — purple while active, green when trapped
• Escape animation — When the dot reaches the edge, it scales up and fades away for clear visual feedback
• Panic animation — When trapped, the dot bounces frantically between its remaining reachable cells

Accessibility

Trap the Dot is designed to be usable and comfortable for all players.

• Reduce Motion support — All animations respect the system Reduce Motion accessibility setting. When enabled, pulsing and glow effects are simplified
• High contrast visuals — The dark background with distinct cell states (gray, tan, purple, green) provides clear visual differentiation
• Large tap targets — Cells scale responsively but are sized for comfortable tapping, up to 44 points on larger screens
• Simple interaction model — One-tap gameplay with no gestures, swipes, or complex inputs required

Technical Overview

Trap the Dot is built natively in Swift using SwiftUI, targeting iOS 17.0 and later. It has zero third-party dependencies.

• Trap Mode AI — Uses Breadth-First Search (BFS) to find the shortest path to the nearest edge. The runner always takes the most direct escape route
• Escape Mode AI — Uses a minimax algorithm with lookahead to strategically place blockers and cut off your escape routes
• Hex grid — 11×11 odd-row offset coordinate system where each cell has 6 neighbors. The grid scales responsively to any screen size
• Animations — All animations respect the system Reduce Motion accessibility setting

Privacy Policy

Trap the Dot is built with privacy as a core principle. Here's exactly what the app does and doesn't do with your data.

• Nothing collected — Zero data is collected, transmitted, or stored on any server. Ever
• Local only — Game state exists only on your device. If you enable the optional game log, session data is stored locally and can be exported or cleared at any time
• No analytics or tracking — No analytics SDKs, no crash reporters, no event tracking, no telemetry of any kind
• No network access — The app makes zero network requests. No API calls, no server communication. It works entirely offline
• No accounts — No sign-up, no login, no user profile, no user identifier of any kind
• No third-party SDKs — The app contains no third-party code, advertising frameworks, or external libraries. Built entirely with Apple's first-party frameworks
• No non-exempt encryption — The app does not use any encryption beyond what iOS provides at the system level

Data Summary

• Data collected — None
• Data shared — None
• Data stored — Game log (optional, local only, can be cleared anytime)
• Third-party SDKs — None
• Analytics / tracking — None
• Advertising — None
• Network access — None
• User accounts — None
• Encryption — None (system-level only)

FAQ — General

FAQ — Gameplay

FAQ — Technical

FAQ — Privacy

Common Issues

Contact Support

Have a question or found a bug? We'd love to hear from you.

• Email — hello@nostios.com
• Support page — Visit our Support page