Tic Tac Toe guides
Everything about the world's favourite three-in-a-row game: the rules, winning strategy, the maths behind the inevitable draw, and new ways to play.
How to win at Tic Tac Toe: 7 strategies that actually work
Seven practical Tic Tac Toe strategies, from the corner opening to the fork, with board diagrams showing exactly where to play to win more games.
4 min readStrategyHow to never lose at Tic Tac Toe
An eight-step priority list that guarantees you never lose a game of Tic Tac Toe, plus the correct replies to every opening and the traps to watch for.
3 min readRulesTic Tac Toe rules: how to play, explained simply
The complete rules of Tic Tac Toe (Noughts and Crosses): the board, taking turns, the eight winning lines, draws, who goes first, and common questions.
3 min readStrategyThe best first move in Tic Tac Toe: corner, centre or edge?
We analysed every Tic Tac Toe game to compare the three opening moves. The answer depends on your opponent, and the corner wins most often in practice.
3 min readStrategyTic Tac Toe traps and forks: how to set them and how to block them
The fork is how almost every Tic Tac Toe game is won. Learn the four classic fork patterns with diagrams, and the technique for stopping a fork before it happens.
3 min readThe appHow to beat the computer at Tic Tac Toe: Easy, Medium and Hard
How each computer level in TicTacToe really plays, your exact winning chances against it, and a step-by-step plan to beat Easy and Medium and hold Hard to a draw.
4 min readMathsWhy Tic Tac Toe always ends in a draw
Tic Tac Toe is a solved game: perfect play always draws. Here are the numbers behind it (255,168 games, 5,478 positions) and why the first player can't force a win.
3 min readMathsHow a computer plays perfect Tic Tac Toe: minimax explained
A clear explanation of the minimax algorithm, with alpha-beta pruning, using Tic Tac Toe as the example, plus how the TicTacToe app's Hard level uses it.
4 min readHistoryA short history of Tic Tac Toe
From three-in-a-row grids scratched in Roman stone to one of the first video games ever made, the story of Tic Tac Toe, Noughts and Crosses, and its many names.
4 min readVariantsTic Tac Toe variants: 4×4, Ultimate, Misère and more
Bored of draws? Eight Tic Tac Toe variants to try, from Ultimate Tic Tac Toe and Misère to 3D Qubic and the number game that is secretly Tic Tac Toe.
4 min readFamilyTic Tac Toe for kids: what it teaches and how to make it fun
Why Tic Tac Toe is a great first strategy game for children, the skills it builds, how to teach it step by step, and how to keep it fun when they keep losing.
3 min readTwo playersPlaying Tic Tac Toe with a friend: formats, handicaps and house rules
How to make two-player Tic Tac Toe fair and exciting: who starts, match formats, handicaps for uneven players, and house rules that break the endless draws.
3 min read