Line #34 TabletopGame/TicTacToe


1	[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snes-tic-tac-toe_9968.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:256:Can't get 3 in a row. Can get 43 ''tie games'' in a row.\
3	[-(Super NES version)-] ]]
4	Tic-tac-toe, also called tick tack toe, or noughts and crosses/Xs and Os as it is known in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, is a pencil-and-paper AbstractStrategyGame of unknown origin. Two players, X and O, take turns marking the spaces in a 3×3 grid. The X player usually goes first. The player who succeeds in placing three respective marks in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row wins the game. If the board fills up before anyone accomplishes this (which is very likely to happen between players with any experience), the game is a draw.
5
6	The first (or second) video game, ''VideoGame/{{OXO}}'', is pretty much this in video game form. It was also the basis for ''Series/TicTacDough'' and ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'', as well as the Secret "X" game on ''Series/ThePriceIsRight''.
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8	!! Video game adaptations:
9	* ''VideoGame/{{OXO}}'' (1952) for the EDSAC.
10	* Tim Soft's ''[[http://www.zophar.net/pdroms/snes.html Tic-Tac-Toe]]'' (1994) for the Platform/SuperNES.
11	* Stephen Ostermiller's ''[[http://ostermiller.org/calc/tictactoe.html Tic-Tac-Toe]]'', one of many online versions. Includes a good [[http://ostermiller.org/calc/tictactoe.html strategy guide]].
12	* Neave Interactive's ''[[https://playtictactoe.org/ Tic-Tac-Toe]]'', a WebGame with sound effects.
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14	!! "Tic Tac Tropes":
15	* AbstractStrategyGame: The rules are simple and fully abstract, and the course of the game is dictated entirely by where players choose to put their X's and O's.
16	* BambooTechnology: It's possible to teach a pile of matchboxes to play the game, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9c-_neaxeU as seen in this video]]
17	* DifficultyLevels: Some computer players never lose. To give the human a chance, some video games have difficulty levels.
18	** Ostermiller's Tic-Tac-Toe has four difficulty levels: Novice makes random moves, Intermediate blocks two-in-a-row, Experienced makes the best first moves, and Expert plays perfectly.
19	** Tim Soft's Tic-Tac-Toe has Easy, Normal and Hard. If you find the flaw, you can still win about 1 in 4 games against Hard.
20	* DigitalTabletopGameAdaptation: Besides being one of the easiest games to code, this game is often rereleased online or in bundles.
21	* MatchThreeGame: Well, you need to get three X's or O's in a row, column or diagonal to win...
22	* NoPlotNoProblem: There's no plot. Just put your X's or O's in the grid and try to get three in a row.
23	* PhysicalPinballTables: ''[[http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=4402 OXO]]'', released by Williams Electronics in 1973.
24	* PlayerVersusPlayer: 2 players go head-to-head in a race to claim three in a row.
25	* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: This game known as Tic-Tac-Toe in North America is known as Noughts and Crosses in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
26	* StrategyGame: One needs some strategy to avoid defeat in this game, as players are technically attacking ''and'' defending at the same time.
27	* UnwinnableByDesign: If two skilled players play the game, they will inevitably force themselves into a draw. Many computer players, starting with ''OXO'' from 1952, can play a perfect game with no mistakes, so it is impossible to win against them. In fiction, not realizing this is a sign of a character being BookDumb, a FishOutOfWater, or otherwise stupid or naive. If the character is a robot or AI, it's a sign of ArtificialStupidity.
28	* VideoGame: UrExample. ''OXO'', a 1952 version made for the computer, is believed to be the first computer/video game to use a digital graphics display.
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30	!!! Appearances in media:
31	* ''Series/TicTacDough'': Game show. Answer questions, place X's and O's, win money.
32	* ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'': Game show with nine celebrities sitting in a giant grid.
33	* ''Film/WarGames'': One of the computer games on WOPR is "Tic-Tac-Toe". This game is as unwinnable as "Global Thermonuclear War".
34	** ''WebVideo/SMBCTheater'' did a parody of this scene where the computer concludes that the lesson is to go first and control your opponent's options. Ironically, its justification uses terrible tic-tac-toe strategy.
35	* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' provides the [[http://xkcd.com/832/ Complete Map of Optimal Tic-Tac-Toe Moves]]. You will never lose a game again! Its AltText is a ShoutOut to ''[=WarGames=]''.
36	-->''"The only winning move is to play, perfectly, waiting for your opponent to make a mistake."''
37	* Creator/TheBBC's famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Card_F Test Card F]] features Carole Hersee playing the game with her doll.
38	* In the ''Series/SmallWonder'' episode "Jailbirds", Jamie and Vicki come to a graffiti wall with an incomplete game of tic-tac-toe. The way Vicki finishes the game gets them both jailed for vandalism.
39	* In the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "Beep and Boop's Game", the eponymous game that the two rovers were playing was tic-tac-toe.
40	* ''VideoGame/RocketRobotOnWheels'' requires playing Chick-Tac-Toe against a PerfectPlayAI in order to get a PlotCoupon. Please do not harass the chicken by throwing stuff at it.
41	* In Episode 2779 of ''Series/SesameStreet'', an Anything Muppet version of Cowboy X[[note]]originally an animated character who stamped X's all over a western town[[/note]] challenges Cowboy O to a game of tic-tac-toe on the street, using a board provided by Bob and Uncle Wally.
42	* In ''VideoGame/ThereIsNoGameWrongDimension'', the climactic battle has Mr. Glitch challenging Game to a Tic-Tac-Toe match to decide their fate. Every game they play ends in a draw, however, and the User has to intervene to break the stalemate.
43	* In the third ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfKyrandia'' game, Malcolm is forced to play Tic-Tac-Toe against the Fish Queen of Limbo. The Queen is exceptionally bad at the game, but you must force her to win and praise her as a tactical genius in order to proceed.
44	* In ''Manga/OtakuElf'', a four hundred year-long series of Tic-Tac-Toe games with alternate symbols is part of Elda and Yord's rivalry, with 399 draws in a row. The elves call it Lingbeli Byoluling and consider it a battle of wits on par with chess, and are deeply shocked when Koito explains that the game ''always'' ends in a draw if no one makes a mistake.
45	* In the first ''VideoGame/PajamaSam'' game, in the park across the bridge there's a minigame where you play the Land of Darkness equivalent to Tic-Tac-Toe, called "Cheese and Crackers". It's the same concept, but with, well, cheese and crackers. You can also play in bigger grids that require 4 or 5 tokens in a row. [[spoiler:At the end, when Sam meets Darkness and finds out he's NotEvilJustMisunderstood, they both play a game of Cheese and Crackers]].
46	* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': During a particularily boring motivational seminar, Hal is shown entretaining himself by playing Tic-Tac-Toe against "Evi Me". Judging by the scoreboard, "Evil Me" has won almost every game.

Context TabletopGame / TicTacToe