The game was originally proposed by Geoffrey Mott-Smith who called it Plugg, and was described by Martin Gardner as the game Cram in: Gardner, Martin. Knotted Doughnuts and other Mathematical Entertainments. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1986. 232-234.

It is related to the game Domineering, which is identical except that one player can only make vertical moves and the other player can only make horizontal moves.