Pocket Games
Tic Tac Toe
Tic tac toe is a solved game: if both players play well it always ends level. Which makes it perfect for exactly one thing — learning not to lose. The strategy fits in half a page, and once you have read it the bot’s hard level becomes an endless series of draws.
The rules
A 3×3 grid, two symbols, one symbol per turn in an empty cell. Whoever lines up three horizontally, vertically or diagonally wins. If the grid fills with no line, it is a draw.
On Pocket Games you play two players on the same phone or against the bot at three levels. Wins, draws and losses are stored on the device and never enter any online ranking: against a solved game a ranking would be meaningless.
The hard level never loses. It is minimax: it explores every possible game and picks the move that cannot be punished. The best result available to you is a draw, and that is already a result — it means you did not make a single mistake.
The complete strategy
If you move first, play the centre. The centre belongs to four of the eight lines, corners to three, edges to two. It is the strongest cell on the grid, and opening there is the only start that gives you real winning chances against a distracted opponent.
If your opponent took the centre, take a corner. It is the only reply that does not lose. Answering on an edge hands your opponent a forced win.
If you move first and want to win, play a corner. Against a human opponent the corner opening creates the most traps: six replies out of eight lose, and their only salvation is taking the centre.
Priorities each turn, in this order:
- can you win in one move? win;
- can your opponent win in one move? block;
- can you create a double threat? create it;
- can they create one? prevent it;
- otherwise take the centre, then a corner opposite one of theirs, then an edge.
The double threat
This is how you beat someone who does not miss the obvious blocks. A move that creates two lines to complete at once: your opponent can only block one, and next turn you close the other.
The classic shape: two opposite corners yours, the centre theirs. If they reply on an edge instead of a corner, your next move gives you two open lines at once.
Hence the defence: when you see your opponent take two opposite corners, do not think about building — take an edge, which is the only move that defuses the fork.
Why it always ends level
Tic tac toe has 255,168 possible games, a number small enough to examine exhaustively. The result of that calculation is that with perfect play on both sides the game is a draw: no opening, not even the centre, forces a win.
That is why tic tac toe stops being interesting around the age of eight — and it is also why Ultimate Tic Tac Toe exists, taking this grid and putting nine of them inside another, becoming an unsolved game again.
Frequently asked questions
Does the first player have an advantage?
Yes, but not enough to beat a precise opponent: the first player wins far more of the possible games, and still has zero forced wins.
Can the hard bot be beaten?
No. It plays the perfect strategy and makes no mistakes: against it a draw is the ceiling. The other two levels make mistakes on purpose.
Can two people play on the same phone?
Yes, passing it back and forth. Two-player games do not count towards the statistics.
Why is there no online record?
Because tic tac toe counts wins and draws, not scores: a leaderboard of draws would say nothing. The statistics stay on the device.
More games to try
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