Tic-tac-toe - Variations

Variations

Many board games share the element of trying to be the first to get n-in-a-row: three men's morris, nine men's morris, pente, gomoku, Qubic, Connect Four, Quarto, Gobblet. Generalizing the original Tic-tac-toe game, we get the -game, played on the -dimensional cube with edge . Then, the ordinary Tic-tac-toe is the -game. The m,n,k-games are a family of generalized games based on tic-tac-toe.

• 3-dimensional tic-tac-toe on a 3×3×3 board, though the first player has an easy win by playing in the centre if 2 people are playing. Another variant is played on a 4×4×4 board, though it was solved by Oren Patashnik in 1980 (the first player can force a win). A more complex variant can be played on boards utilising higher dimensional space, most commonly 4 dimensions in a 3×3×3×3 board. In such games the aim is to fill up the board and get more rows of three in total than the other player or to play with 4 people and get 1 row of 3.
• In misère tic-tac-toe the player wins if the opponent gets n in a row. A 3×3 game is a draw.
• Tic Tac Tactic: A new game played on a three-dimensional board. Each player takes it in turns to send their ball at least half way round the curved board until it drops down into one of the 9 indents of the 3 x 3 grid. The player wins balls by forming a row of 3, and they can, using a rubber device, change the outcome of their ball's path and bounce their ball to where they want. Each 3-in-a-row wins a ball of the player. The winner is skilful enough to have won five balls off his opponent.
• In nine board tic-tac-toe nine tic-tac-toe boards are themselves arranged in a 3×3 grid. The first player's move may go on any board; all moves afterwards are placed in the empty spaces on the board corresponding to the square of the previous move (that is, if a move were in the upper-left square of a board, the next move would take place on the upper-left board). If a player cannot move because the indicated board is full, the next move may go on any board. Victory is attained by getting 3 in a row on any board. This makes the game considerably longer and more involved than tic-tac-toe, with a definite opening, middle game and endgame.
• super tic-tac-toe is played like nine board tic-tac-toe except that the game does not end when a player wins a game on one of the small boards. Instead, the position of the small board where that player won is marked on a 3x3 grid, and a player wins when they form 3-in-a-row on that grid.
• In Tic-Tac-Chess, players play a game of chess and tic-tac-toe simultaneously. When a player captures an opponent's piece, the player can make a play on the tic-tac-toe board regardless if the other player has not yet made a play. The first person to get 3 X's or O's in a row wins the game. This makes for a much more defensive game of chess.
• There is a game that is isomorphic to tic-tac-toe, but on the surface appears completely different. Two players in turn say a number between one and nine. A particular number may not be repeated. The game is won by the player who has said three numbers whose sum is 15. Plotting these numbers on a 3×3 magic square shows that the game exactly corresponds with tic-tac-toe, since three numbers will be arranged in a straight line if and only if they total 15. This can be helpful in programming computer adaptations of the game, by assigning the squares of the grid to their corresponding number on the magic square.
• Two players fill out a 3×3 grid with numbers one through nine in order of priority. They then compare their grids and play tic-tac-toe by filling in the squares by the priority they listed before.
• In the 1970s, there was a two player game made by Tri-ang Toys & Games called Check Lines, in which the board consisted of eleven holes arranged in a geometrical pattern of twelve straight lines each containing three of the holes. Each player had exactly five tokens and played in turn placing one token in any of the holes. The winner was the first player whose tokens were arranged in two lines of three (which by definition were intersecting lines). If neither player had won by the tenth turn, subsequent turns consisted of moving one of one's own tokens to the remaining empty hole, with the constraint that this move could only be from an adjacent hole.
• Toss Across is a tic-tac-toe game where players throw bean bags at a large board to mark squares.
• Star Tic Tac Toe is tic-tac-toe game where it is played with checkers like movable pieces on 3×3 board. Each player gets 3 pieces.The players move the pieces into empty cells until someone wins. This adds dynamism. In addition each player gets a special piece marked with a star. The stars can be swapped. This adds surprise.
• Mojo, Mojo Too and Mojo 2 is a tic-tac-toe game played on a 3×3 board with original and unique movable pieces and pawns – the latter is played for points. The players move the pieces and pawn(s) onto empty positions until someone wins.
• The object of the fictional D'ni game of Gemedet is to get six balls in-a-row in a 9×9×9 cube grid.
• The object of the fictional game Squid-Tac-Toad is to get four (or five) pieces in-a-row on a 4×4 or 5×5 checkerboard grid.
• Some children play where getting a Y formation also counts as a win. This effectively guarantees a win, since all of the game scenarios feature some form of Y formation.
• Quantum tic tac toe allows players to place a quantum superposition of numbers on the board, i.e. the players' moves are "superpositions" of plays in the original classical game. This variation was invented by Allan Goff of Novatia Labs.
• Another variation on tic-tac-toe is played on a larger grid (say 10x10) where the object is to get 5 in a row. The increased amount of space creates a greater complexity.
• There is a variation on tic-tac-toe that is popular in Vietnam, in which the player has to get 5 in a row to win the game. Each player takes turns to mark "x" or "o" on the board. The strategy is to not only block the opponent, but create chances for yourself to form 5 in a row in any direction. The board is unlimited and has no boundary until one wins. See Go-moku
• The game can also be varied by limiting the number of pieces and then allowing movement. The three-a-side then becomes Three Men's Morris (see Nine Men's Morris).
• There is a variation using a list of the words eat, an, laf, it, line, if, lot, on and foe. To win, a player must select three words with the same letter. If the words are plotted on a tic-tac-toe grid in order a three in a row line wins.
• Memory tic-tac-toe is played with the same rules as standard tic-tac-toe. However, instead of marking moves on a piece of paper, the games is played verbally, with each player calling out which locations they take. The most used naming convention is referring to the locations as points as their corresponding cardinal and ordinal points with ″center" referring to the middle piece. In addition to the standard win condition, an optional lose condition may be implemented for a player that "re-touches" an already occupied square. Due to both players trying to keep all the board positions in memory, it may be useful for a third person keep track of the game on paper out of view of the players.