Tic-tac-toe

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 game 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.

The first video game, OXO, is pretty much this in video game form. It was the basis for Tic-Tac-Dough and The Hollywood Squares, as well as the Secret "X" game on The Price Is Right.

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Tropes used in Tic-tac-toe include:

• Casual Game
• House Rules: Once the 3x3 grid gets too easy, players may trade up to a larger grid size. There's also a "3D" variant, played simultaneously on three separate grids (to simulate a cube), where getting three in a row in any direction (even across different grids) counts as a win.
  • X typically goes first, but that's up to preference really.
• Match Three Game: Well, you need to get three X's or O's in a row, column or diagonal to win...
• Player Versus Player
• Strategy Game: One needs some strategy to avoid defeat in this game, as players are technically attacking and defending at the same time.
• Unwinnable: If two skilled players play the game, they will inevitably force themselves into a draw
• Video Game: Ur Example. OXO, a 1952 version made for the computer, is believed to be the first computer/video game to use a digital graphics display.

Examples of Tic-tac-toe in media include:

Film

• WarGames

Live-Action TV

• Tic-Tac-Dough
• The Hollywood Squares