Tic-tac-toe is a two-player paper-and-pencil or grid game played on a three-by-three grid, in which players alternate marking the letter X or the letter O in empty squares and try to be the first to place three of their own marks in a row, column or diagonal. Games of this simple alignment-and-blocking type have ancient roots, including a version played in Roman times called terni lapilli, and the modern grid-and-symbol form became widespread in English-speaking countries in the nineteenth century. With perfect play by both sides the game always ends in a draw, and it is commonly used to introduce children to basic game strategy.
Facts
Partially Attested
Originating RegionOnly an early variation, terni lapilli, is documented from the Roman Empire; three-in-a-row boards are traced separately to ancient Egypt around 1300 BC, so the modern game has no single settled point of origin. Classification
Player CountWikipedia infobox (Tic-tac-toe) players field: '2' Connections
Associated With
Connect Four, Games Connect Four and tic-tac-toe both belong to the broader family of grid-based alignment games, in which players win by placing a run of their own marks or pieces in a row, though Connect Four was not directly derived from tic-tac-toe.
Source The Oxford History of Board Games
Sources
1. Tic-tac-toe, Wikipedia
Lead section
a paper-and-pencil game for two players who take turns marking the spaces in a three-by-three grid
History section, second paragraph
An early variation of tic-tac-toe was played in the Roman Empire, around the first century BC.
Infobox, players field
2
entity record, description lead (player-count)
Tic-tac-toe is a two-player paper-and-pencil or grid game played on a three-by-three grid, in which players alternate marking the letter X or the letter O in empty squares and try to be the first to place three of their own marks in a row, column or diagonal. Games of this simple alignment-and-blocking type have ancient roots, including a version played in Roman times called terni lapill
View the SourceThe Oxford History of Board Games
Oxford University Press, 1999Associated With: Connect Four
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