Wild tic-tac-toe

A completed game of Wild Tic-Tac-Toe

Wild tic-tac-toe is an impartial game similar to tic-tac-toe. However, in this game players can choose to place either X or O on each move.[1][2] This game can also be played in its misere form where if a player creates a three-in-a-row of marks, that player loses the game.[3]

Regular game

Wild tic-tac-toe is played on a 3-by-3 board by two players, who take turns placing an X or an O on any unoccupied square.[4][5] The player who completes a straight or diagonal line of 3 X's or 3 O’s wins.[3][6] In this version of the game, the player which makes the first move can always win.[1][2][7]

Misere game

This game is exactly like the regular version of the game except the player who creates a line of any three marks (Xs or Os) in a row loses the game.[3][5]

The second player can force a draw by playing a mark opposite of the opponent's mark and choosing X if the opponent chose O (or vice versa).[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Puzzles in Education - Wild Tic-Tac-Toe". puzzles.com. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
  2. ^ a b BAUMANN (2013-06-29). BASIC Game Plans: Computer Games and Puzzles Programmed in BASIC. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9781475739183.
  3. ^ a b c d Epstein, Richard A. (2012-12-28). The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic. Academic Press. ISBN 9780123978707.
  4. ^ Mendelson, Elliott (January 2016). Introducing Game Theory and its Applications. CRC Press. ISBN 9781482285871.
  5. ^ a b Lee, Carl (November 2022). "Some Games for Math Circles" (PDF). Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  6. ^ "Variations of Tic Tac Toe" (PDF).
  7. ^ Epstein, Richard A. (2014-06-28). The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic, Revised Edition. Gulf Professional Publishing. ISBN 9780080571843.