Tic-tac-toe grown up. On a 3×3 board you and the AI each have six pieces in three sizes, and a bigger piece can cover a smaller one completely. Only the top piece of each stack counts toward three-in-a-row. The catch: when you move a piece off a stack, whatever was hiding underneath is suddenly back in play. Get three of your color in a row and build the longest streak.
You play the dark pieces, the AI the light ones. Each side has two small, two medium and two large pieces, shown in the trays above and below the board.
On your turn you make one move. Tap a piece in your tray (or one of your pieces already on the board), then tap a highlighted cell to drop it there. A piece may land on an empty cell, or cover any smaller piece — yours or the AI's — sitting on top of a stack. It can never land on a piece its own size or bigger.
Only the visible top piece of each cell counts. Three of your color in a row, column or diagonal wins the round.
The twist is uncovering: if you move a piece that was covering something, the piece beneath comes back into view. Your move is judged once the piece has landed. If the AI then has three in a row anywhere, the AI wins the round — even if that same move also completed a line of yours. Lifting a piece off an AI line is only safe when it lands back on one of that line's cells and covers it again. The same rule applies to the AI's moves.
A win adds 1 to your streak. A loss ends the game, and so does a draw: when 60 moves in total (both sides counted) pass without three in a row, the round is a draw and your streak stops there. The AI plays sharper as your streak grows, and who moves first alternates each round.
The center is the strongest square, exactly as in ordinary tic-tac-toe — it belongs to four of the eight winning lines. But here a piece is never permanent, so grabbing the center with a small piece invites the AI to cover it. Take the middle with something big enough that it cannot easily be swallowed.
Size is a resource you spend, not just a shield. Your two large pieces can cover anything, so they are your rescue tool — they can smother the AI's third-in-a-row at the last instant. Don't burn both early; keep at least one large in reserve for the moment the AI threatens to win, and you can cover the threat instead of racing it.
Always read what is underneath before you move. A covering piece is hiding the one beneath it, and lifting it puts that piece back on the board. If you are covering one of the AI's pieces on a line, moving away can hand the AI three in a row on the spot — unless you land back on that line — the fastest way to lose a round you thought you were winning.
Use the uncover rule as a weapon, not just a hazard. If you have a large piece sitting on one of your own pieces, and moving it elsewhere still leaves your line intact — or completes a second threat — you get two moves' worth of value from one. Set up positions where lifting a covering piece reveals your color, not the AI's.
The AI starts loose and tightens fast. Early on it will give you the center and miss covers; higher up it defends every line, saves its big pieces, and punishes any move that uncovers its color. The long streaks come from thinking one cover ahead — always knowing what is under each stack before you touch it.