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Is it possible to win Tic Tac Toe every time?
How To Win Tic Tac Toe Every Time – Unfortunately, there is no way to guarantee that a player will win every single game of tic tac toe they play. Victory, defeat, or a draw is determined by the interaction of both players. If both players operate perfectly, a draw will always occur. The best strategies to win are:
Attempt to go first and claim a corner segment.Play second and hope your opponent makes mistakes.Focus on blocking and looking at least two moves ahead.
How do you beat Tic Tac Toe impossible?
Place your X in the center space or another corner. If the computer hasn’t lined up 2 Os yet, place your next X in a corner. With 3 Xs in 2 corners, you’ll be able to win either horizontally or diagonally.
Is it possible to lose Tic Tac Toe if you go first?
Never Lose at Tic Tac Toe – You can apply the following strategies to ensure that you never lose a game of Tic Tac Toe −
When you’re playing first, forcing a tie is easy. They only require the player to prevent the opponent wins. Playing first is a winning strategy, and losing is impossible with the right tactics. The second player must tie. It takes a lot of work and opponent errors to win second place. The second player should occupy the middle of the first and starts in a corner. After the first player’s second move, the second should grab an edge. Use a corner piece to stop your opponent from getting three in a row. If used, a draw is assured. Move to a corner if you’re second and the first player has the center. The second player’s sole job is to block the first.
Is 3×3 tic-tac-toe solved?
4×4×4, two-player – On the 4×4×4 board, there are 76 winning lines. On each of the four 4×4 boards, or horizontal planes, there are four columns, four rows, and two diagonals, accounting for 40 lines. There are 16 vertical lines, each ascending from a cell on the bottom board through the corresponding cells on the other boards.
- There are eight vertically-oriented planes parallel to the sides of the boards, each of these adding two more diagonals (the horizontal and vertical lines of these planes have already been counted).
- Finally, there are two vertically-oriented planes that include the diagonal lines of the 4×4 boards, and each of these contributes two more diagonal lines—each of these including two corners and two internal cells.
The 16 cells lying on these latter four lines (that is, the eight corner cells and eight internal cells) are each included in seven different winning lines; the other 48 cells (24 face cells and 24 edge cells) are each included in four winning lines.
- The corner cells and the internal cells are actually equivalent via an ; likewise for face and edge cells.
- The group of automorphisms of the game contains 192 automorphisms.
- It is made up of combinations of the usual rotations and reflections that reorient or reflect the cube, plus two that scramble the order of cells on each line.
If a line comprises cells A, B, C and D in that order, one of these exchanges inner cells for outer ones (such as B, A, D, C) for all lines of the cube, and the other exchanges cells of either the inner or the outer cells (A, C, B, D or equivalently D, B, C, A) for all lines of the cube.
Combinations of these basic automorphisms generate the entire group of 192 as shown by R. Silver in 1967.3D tic-tac-toe was, meaning that the existence of a winning strategy was proven but without actually presenting such a strategy, by Eugene Mahalko in 1976. He proved that in two-person play, the first player will win if there are two optimal players.
A more complete analysis, including the announcement of a complete first-player-win strategy, was published by in 1980. Patashnik used a that consumed 1500 hours of computer time. The strategy comprised move choices for 2929 difficult “strategic” positions, plus assurances that all other positions that could arise could be easily won with a sequence entirely made up of forcing moves.
Is tic-tac-toe a skill?
Posted by Talking Matters on 22 May 2021 Tic Tac Toe is well known game that is simple to grasp, easy to adapt and excellent for building beginner planning, problem solving and perspective taking skills. This post is going to focus on how you can use Tic Tac Toe to help develop your child’s gross motor, fine motor, social, emotional and cognitive skills.
If playing Tic Tac Toe on paper, encourage your child to sit cross legged, kneel on their hands and knees or lie on their stomach while playing to increase their core strength, You could also create a large 3 by 3 grid with masking tape or chalk on the floor then use 2 different colours of beanbags (or something similar) to play Tic Tac Toe with.
Place the beanbags a few metres away from the Tic Tac Toe board and use various animal walks (E.g. bear, duck, crab, frog) to get the beanbags and bring them to the board. Encourage your child to think up new animal walks. You can also make it a race (i.e. first person to get to the board gets to place their beanbag down first). Create a simple obstacle course using what you have at home (e.g. crawl under chairs, hop on mats, walk heel-to-toe on a line drawn in chalk or masking tape etc.) and have your child do the obstacle course each time they want to collect a beanbag to place it on the board. Work on your child’s throwing and aiming skills but getting them to toss the beanbag onto the square they want to make their next move on. Place Yoga cards face down on each of the squares of the grid. Before you can place your beanbag down on a square, you need to hold the yoga pose shown in the card of the square for an agreed upon time (e.g.30s). Decide how long to have your child hold the pose based on their current skills and the difficulty of the pose. Yoga poses are also a great way to work on motor planning, Encourage your child to make their body look the same as the picture with as little help as possible. If they struggle, have them stand in front of a mirror so they can see what their body is doing. If they need further help, give them specific advice about how to move their body or model the pose. Similarly, pick 9 gross motor skills you would like your child to work on (e.g. star jumps, skipping, standing on 1 leg etc.) and write each skill on a piece of paper you place on each square. assign each skill/task to a column. Each time either player wants to put their beanbag in a square, they need to do the activity linked to the square (e.g. do 10 star jumps before you place your beanbag down on square 1).
When picking up the beanbag, pencil or coin, have the child use their right hand to pick up items placed to the left side of their body and their left hand to pick up items placed to the right side of their body. This develops a skill called midline crossing which is important for hand dominance and is necessary for tasks such as dressing.
Fine motor skills
Ideal pencil grasp An alternative to drawing Xs and Os is to use tokens or coins of different colours. If using coins to play Tic Tac Toe, ensure your child uses a pincer grasp (using the thumb and index finger with other fingers tucked away) when picking and inserting the coins. You can also practice in-hand manipulation skills by having your child grab multiple coins, keep them in their palm then use their fingers muscles to bring the coins one at a time away from their palm into their fingers. If you’ll be playing by drawing in Xs and Os, encourage your child to use an age appropriate pencil grasp, The ideal pencil grasp would involve holding the pencil with the thumb, index and middle fingers and tucking away the ring and little fingers for stability (see image). Encourage your child to use their helper hand to hold the paper down while they draw. You can also practice drawing different shapes or writing different letters or words. For example, have them write the first letter of their name or their entire name instead of drawing a X or O to mark the square as theirs.
Cognitive skills
Children often find it easier to understand and make vertical and horizontal lines before diagonal lines. You may need to give lots of hints to help them understand how to make a diagonal line. They may benefit from using their hand to tap out the squares that make a straight line. Tic Tac Toe is in itself a wonderful game for developing planning skills as children need to plan out how they can build their own line of 4 while also watching out for what their opponent is doing so they can block their opponent from winning. Start by providing your child with verbal prompts (and gestures) to help them identify when they have a chance to win or when their opponent might be close to winning. Ask your child if they can predict where their opponent is likely to place their next piece and/or how their opponent might be planning to win. Give less and less verbal prompts as they get better at the game. This game is great for encouraging visual tracking and visual perceptual skills as your child needs to track the different symbols/ coloured beanbags/ coloured coins.
Social skills
Alongside planning their own moves, children need to think about their opponent’s intentions and have a look at the board from their perspective in order to predict and block them from winning. If you are about to win, encourage your child to stop and think about what you will do next and hence what they should do to block you. Prompt your child to find a fair way to decide who goes first. Playing ‘rock, paper, scissors’ can be a useful way to prevent arguing. Practice turn taking skills and if your child requires the support, give verbal prompts such as ‘who is next?’, ‘your turn, my turn’. You can also focus on developing your child’s winning and losing skills, Often when children become fixated on winning, they can have difficulty regulating their emotions if they lose. It is often helpful to role model good winning and losing behaviour. Also emphasize at the start of the game that it is more important to have fun and play fairly than to win. Similarly, before starting the game, brainstorm friendly things to say to one when someone wins (e.g. “You played really well”) or when someone loses (e.g. “Good game. Do you want to play again?”.
Emotional regulation skills
If your child gets frustrated, angry or upset when they lose or because it is challenging to practice the skills listed above, encourage them to identify what emotion they are feeling. Then help them identify and use strategies (such as taking deep breaths or using a movement break) to calm down before refocusing back on the task. Also emphasize the importance of practicing so we can get better. Instead of Xs and Os, draw simple emotion faces instead (e.g. one person draws a happy face and the other draws an angry face). Each time you draw your face, say something that could make you feel this way or something that could make you feel better if you were feeling this way.
Has anyone beat Google tic-tac-toe?
No one has beaten Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) in the impossible mode of Tic Tac Toe. Google’s AI in Tic Tac Toe, known as the Minimax algorithm, is designed to play optimally and make the best possible moves to either win or draw the game.
How can we beat Google?
Play a different game The fact is, you can’t truly beat Google at their own game. If SERP listings is a game of chess, Google is a chess grandmaster and everyone else is an amateur at best or doesn’t even know how to play. What you can do is play a different game.
Is tic-tac-toe unfair?
Is Tic-Tac-Toe a Fair Game? – If you’re looking for a fair game to play, Tic-Tac-Toe is not it. Once again, we must rely on the actual definition of the term. A “fair game” is defined as a game where there is as much chance of you winning as there is of you losing. Shutterstock.com If both players play Tic-Tac-Toe carefully, the best outcome there could be is a draw. Also, the player who goes first has a higher chance of winning than the player who goes second. Because of this, Tic-Tac-Toe is not considered a particularly fair game.
Why is tic-tac-toe always a draw?
The algorithm results in a draw because the algorithm is a deterministic search for the rational game outcome, and tic-tac-toe is rationally supposed to end in a draw.
What is the maximum moves in tic-tac-toe?
Posted By Leslie N. Gruis, Monday, October 12, 2020 We all remember tic-tac-toe as a simple game. Young children find it easy to learn, and enjoy playing it. As they get older, they come to understand how to play the game strategically and not lose. When two experts play, the game will always result in a tie.
A tic-tac-toe board is a 3×3 grid. If I were to fill in each of the nine spaces with a unique value (like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), then I’d have nine choices for filling the first slot, eight choices for filling the second slot, and so on and so on. Counting this way, I’d have 9*8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1 = 9! (read “9 factorial”) = 362,880 ways to fill the board.
In actuality, tic-tac-toe players fill in each of the nine entries with one of only three values: an X, an O, or leave it blank. That’s a total of 3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3 = 3^9 = 19,683 different ways the 3×3 grid can be filled in. The goal of the game in tic-tac-toe is to get three in a row – horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
- Play continues until someone achieves this goal or all the spaces are filled with X’s and O’s.
- While the minimum number of moves to win a game is five, the maximum number of moves in any game is nine, filling the board with only X’s and/or O’s.
- In that case, there are only 2^9 = 512 different final filled boards.
But wait a minute. That includes things like a board filled all by X’s. That’s not really a valid state because in a real tic-tac-toe game, there are two players taking turns. Let’s assume that player one, who marks his spaces with X, goes first. Player two, who marks his spaces with O, goes next.
- The players continue to alternate taking moves until the board is filled, now containing 5 X’s and 4 O’s.
- How many valid filled boards are there? Unlike in the original case we considered, these nine entries are not unique.
- An X placed in one grid position is indistinguishable from an X placed in another grid position, and ditto for the O’s.
So we have to divide out the previously counted 5! permutations of the X’s, and the 4! permutations of the O’s. This leaves us with a total number of final filled boards containing 5 X’s and 4 O’s of 9!/(5!*4!) = 126. Now let’s look at some specific boards under rotation and reflection.
- Consider the board OXO XXX OXO If I rotate this board clockwise by 90, 180, and 270 degrees, I end up with the same board.
- If reflect it horizontally, vertically, and across both diagonals, I still get the same board back.
- We say that this board has an orbit of 1.
- There is one other board of orbit 1, namely XOX OXO XOX Consider now the board OOO XOX XXX Under rotation and reflection, this board can become XXO XXX OXX XOO XOX OOX XXO OOO OXX We say this board has an orbit of 4, that is, there are four different boards we can get to by rotating and reflecting the original board.
There are in fact eleven boards that have an orbit of 4. Finally, there are another ten boards that have orbits of 8. So in total, there are 2 + 11 + 10 = 23 unique boards which, when rotated and reflected, end up giving us all 126 boards we found earlier.
There are more sophisticated mathematical methods for calculating the number of unique boards – using something called Burnside’s Lemma – which you can learn more about here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdDF7_vfLcE The important thing to take away from this discussion is that even simple games like tic-tac-toe have some very sophisticated mathematical principles underlying them.
We will investigate more about the mathematics of other games in future blogs. Tags: games STEM Permalink | Comments (1)
Is tic-tac-toe 3 or 4 in a row?
The goal of tic-tac-toe is to be the first player to get three in a row on a 3-by-3 grid or four in a row in a 4-by-4 grid. To start, one player draws a board, creating a grid of squares, usually 3-by-3 or 4-by-4.
Is 4×4 tic-tac-toe solved?
3D Tic-tac-toe – Main article: Three-dimensional tic-tac-toe on a 3×3×3 board. In this game, the first player has an easy win by playing in the centre if two people are playing. One can play on a board of 4×4 squares, winning in several ways. Winning can include: four in a straight line, four in a diagonal line, four in a diamond, or four to make a square.
Is tic-tac-toe good for brain?
Tic Tac Toe – Perkins School for the Blind Games are a natural way to foster social interaction, as well as work on fine motor development. Tic Tac Toe can be used to promote a number of cognitive skills including counting and spatial skills, and color and shape identification.
Square wooden game board with nine holes drilled: three across the top, three across the middle, and three across the bottom Five red cylindrical playing pieces Five square green pieces
Two students play the game, each taking a turn placing one piece at a time into one of the drilled holes. The object is to place three matching pieces in a row – horizontal, vertical or lateral – without being thwarted by the other player’s piece. None : Tic Tac Toe – Perkins School for the Blind
What is blind tic-tac-toe?
Creative educational apps help students learn core concepts. Blindfold 3D Tic Tac Toe was created specifically to provide students with visual impairments and blindnesss an opportunity to practice digital grid concepts through a familiar game. In this iOS game, the Tic Tac Toe board is basically a grid; the rows and columns are announced so that the player can identify where the red and black checkers (“x” and “o”) are located.
- Students who are visually impaired or blind often struggle with spatial concepts, which can impact math skills and orientation and mobility skills.
- Both of these are highly spatial in nature.
- Traditionally, students learn many spatial concepts through hands-on activities and tactual graphs and maps.
- In our digital classrooms, once a student understands the basic concept, the next step is to able to glean the same information from digital materials.
Transitioning to digital math materials – specifically grids – was discussed In a previous Paths to Technology post, Digital Transitions #2: Math Grid Activities, For students who are learning about grids, start by playing a tactile version of Tic Tac Toe.
- You can purchase tactile Tic Tac Toe games in many stores – including dollar stores – or you can easily create your own Tic Tac Toe boards using raised lines or Wikki Stycks and simple objects such as checkers, counting bears, or even candy pieces! The Tic Tac Toe board is a simple 3 X 3 grid.
- When using a tactile Tic Tac Toe board, be sure to name the grid columns and rows the same as the digital Blindfold Tic Tac Toe board.
Blindfold Tic Tac Toe game is similar to a Coordinte Grid with the Columns A, B, and C, and the rows are 1, 2, and 3, starting from the ‘orgin’ in the bottom left corner. Teacher Hint: If appropriate, use math terms, such as X axis (Columns) and Y Axis (Rows), Coordinate Grid, and Origin (where the X and Y axis intersect in the bottom left corner of the grid). To play Blindfold’s traditional (1 level) Tic Tac Toe game, select ‘Flat Board, Practice’. While there is a visual Tic Tac Toe board available, Blindfold games are designed to be audio games. This game has built-in audio and can be played with or without VoiceOver. Blindfold 3D Tic Tac Toe is a mental game of the classic Tic Tac Toe – with a twist! Instead of one board, there are three levels, A, B and C (bottom, middle and top). The object of the game is to place three checkers in a line. The line can be all on one level or across all three levels!
Can there be no winner in tic-tac-toe?
Rules for Tic-Tac-Toe Players take turns putting their marks in empty squares. The first player to get 3 of her marks in a row (up, down, across, or diagonally) is the winner. When all 9 squares are full, the game is over. If no player has 3 marks in a row, the game ends in a tie.
How do you win tic-tac-toe if opponent goes first?
Download Article Download Article Tic Tac Toe—it’s so simple, yet endlessly entertaining. But did you know that there’s a mathematically proven strategy to follow that can help you win, or at least draw, every time you play ? That’s right; you never have to lose a game of Tic Tac Toe again, and we’ll teach you exactly how. Keep reading to learn how to always win at Tic Tac Toe using a foolproof strategy.
- 1 Play your first X in a corner. Most experienced tic tac toe players put the first “X” in a corner when they get to play first. This gives the opponent the most opportunities to make a mistake. If your opponent responds by putting an O anywhere besides the center, you can guarantee a win.
- In this example, you are going first, and using X as your symbol. Your opponent goes second, and uses O.
- 2 Try to win if your opponent plays the first O in the center. If your opponent plays their first O in the center, you have to wait for them to make a mistake before you can win. If they continue to play correctly, they can guarantee a tie. Here are your two options for your second move, followed by instructions on how to win if they make certain moves (if they don’t, just keep blocking their plays and the game will be a tie):
- Place your second X in the opposite corner from your first, so there’s a line going “X O X” diagonally across the board. If they respond with an O in one of the other corners, you can win! Place your third X in the last empty corner, and your opponent won’t be able to block you from winning with your fourth X.
- Or, place your second X on an edge square (not a corner), not touching your first X. If your opponent puts down an O in the corner that’s not next to your X, you can use your third X to block their move and automatically win with your fourth X.
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- 3 Win automatically if your opponent plays their first O in any square besides the center. If your opponent puts his first O in any square besides the center, you can win. Respond by putting your second X in any other corner, with an empty space in between the two X’s.
- For example, say your first X is in the top left square, and your opponent puts an O in the top middle square. You can put your second X in the bottom left corner, or the bottom right corner. Don’t put it in the top right, since that would put an O between your two X’s instead of an empty space.
- 4 Place your third X so you have two possible winning moves. Most of the time, your opponent will see that you have two X’s in a row and block you. (If not, just win by making a row of three X’s.) After this happens, there should be an empty square that is in line with both your first and your second X, with no enemy O’s blocking that line. Put your third X in this square.
- For example, take a piece of paper and draw a tic tac toe board with the top row “X O _”, the middle row “O _ _,” and the bottom row “X _ _.” If you place your third X in the bottom right corner, it’s in line with both of your other X’s.
- 5 Win with your fourth X. After your third X, there are two empty squares that will win you the game if an X goes into one of them. Since your opponent can only make one move, he can only block one of those squares. Write your fourth X into the square he didn’t block, and you’ve won the game!
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- 1 Force a draw if the opponent starts in the corner. If the opponent plays first and starts with an O in a corner, always put your first X in the center. Your second X should be placed on an edge, not a corner, unless you need to block your opponent from getting three in a row.
- In this section, your opponent is still playing O’s, but remember they get to play first this time.
- 2 Force a draw when the opponent starts in the center. When your opponent starts by putting down an O in the center, place your first X in a corner. After that, just keep blocking your opponent from scoring and the game will be a draw. There is essentially no way for you to win from this position, unless your opponent stops trying to win or stop you from winning!
- 3 Try to win if the opponent starts at the edge. Most of the time, your opponent will start with one of the moves above. However, if your opponent puts down the first O on an edge, not on a corner or center, you have a small chance to win. Put your first X in the center.
If your opponent puts the second O on the opposite edge, making a row or column that reads O-X-O, put your second X in a corner. Then, if your opponent puts the third O in the edge that is adjacent to your X, making a line that reads O-X-O, put your third X in the empty square to block their row of two O’s.
From here, you can always win with your fourth X.
- If at any point, your opponent doesn’t make the exact move described above, you’ll have to settle for a draw. Just start blocking their moves and neither of you will win.
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- 1 Try these out if your tic tac toe games always end in draws. It might be fun for a while to be unbeatable at tic tac toe, but even without this article your friends might figure out how to stop you from winning. Once that happens, every single game of tic tac toe you play with them will be a draw — ugh. But you can still use basic tic tac toe rules to play games that aren’t as easily solved. Try them out below.
- 2 Play mental tic tac toe. The rules are exactly the same as tic tac toe, but there’s no board! Instead, each player says their moves aloud, and pictures the board in their head. You can still use all the strategy advice in this article, but it can be difficult to concentrate on that when you’re trying to remember where the X’s and O’s are.
- Agree on a system for describing moves. For instance the first word is the row (top, middle, or bottom) and the second word is the column (left, middle, or right).
- 3 Play 3D tic tac toe. Draw three tic tac toe boards on separate pieces of paper. Label one board “top,” another “middle,” and the third board “bottom.” You can play anywhere on these boards, and they work as though they were stacked on top of each other to make a cube.
- For a real challenge, combine this with the last variation and try mental 3D tic tac toe. The first word is the board (top, middle, or bottom), the second word is the row (top, middle, or bottom), and the third word is the column (left, middle, or right).
- 4 Play five in a row. Play this game, sometimes called Gomoku, on a piece of graph paper, without even having to draw a board. Instead of marking X’s and O’s inside the squares, write them at the intersections where the graph paper lines meet. You can make each move anywhere on the graph paper.
- In tournaments, players use a 15×15 or a 19×19 board, but you can use any size of graph paper for this game. You could even play on an infinite board, taping on more graph paper whenever you need to.
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Add New Question
- Question Is it possible to always end in a tie? Leonardy Cendana Community Answer Yes. Two good players playing perfect games will end in a tie every time.
- Question How often will putting your X or O in the center cause you to win and same for corners? It really depends on your opponent. Most people are quick-minded enough to play anybody to a draw.
- Question Can I try to make my opponent mad until he or she makes a wrong, fatal move? You could, but it’s not good sportsmanship.
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- For an even harder challenge, try to win after you go first and put an X in the center. If the opponent puts the first O on an edge (which rarely happens), you can guarantee a win. Can you figure out how?
- Against a novice opponent, try this challenge. Go first and play the first X on the edge. You can only guarantee a win if the opponent’s first O is on a corner not touching your X, or on an edge that is diagonal to your X. Can you figure out how to win in these two situations?
- There are other solved games that one player can always win, even if all players play optimally (correctly). For instance, in Connect Four, the first player can always win if he follows the right strategy.
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Even someone who doesn’t know these strategies will catch on quickly if you start from the same position each side. Even if you are practicing starting at the corner, for instance, try starting from different corners so it takes them longer to figure out the pattern.
Advertisement Article Summary X The right way to always win at Tic Tac Toe depends on whether you’re going first or second. If you’re going first, put your first “X” in one of the corners. If the other player puts their first “O” anywhere other than the center, you can win every time.
- Just put your second “X” in another corner so there’s an empty space between your two “X”s.
- Then, on your next move, put your third “X” in another corner.
- Now you’ll have two opportunities to win, and your opponent will only be able to block one of them.
- If your opponent does put their first “O” in the center, follow the same strategy to either win or tie.
If you’re going second, there’s no guaranteed way to win unless your opponent makes a mistake, but you can play defense to force a tie. If your opponent plays their first “O” in a corner, always play your first “X” in the center so there’s a chance of a tie.
Is tic-tac-toe an unfair game?
Is Tic-Tac-Toe a Fair Game? – If you’re looking for a fair game to play, Tic-Tac-Toe is not it. Once again, we must rely on the actual definition of the term. A “fair game” is defined as a game where there is as much chance of you winning as there is of you losing. Shutterstock.com If both players play Tic-Tac-Toe carefully, the best outcome there could be is a draw. Also, the player who goes first has a higher chance of winning than the player who goes second. Because of this, Tic-Tac-Toe is not considered a particularly fair game.
Is tic-tac-toe infinite?
When playing the usual game, one player must get three squares in a row to wind the game. However, with an infinite grid, three in a row become pointless, as the first player is guaranteed to be able to get two in a row with nothing on either end.
Can there be no winner in tic-tac-toe?
Rules for Tic-Tac-Toe Players take turns putting their marks in empty squares. The first player to get 3 of her marks in a row (up, down, across, or diagonally) is the winner. When all 9 squares are full, the game is over. If no player has 3 marks in a row, the game ends in a tie.