Your turn
Your turn
Beat the computer at Tic-Tac-Toe. Get three in a row.
You are X, the computer is O. You go first.
Tap any empty cell to place your X. The computer responds automatically.
Get three in a row — horizontally, vertically, or diagonally — to win. A win extends your streak. A loss or a draw ends the run, and you can save the streak you had. Pressing New in the middle of a streak also ends the run.
The computer gets stronger as your streak grows. At a streak of 0–1 it sometimes forgets to block, at 2–4 it always blocks, and from 5 it plays perfectly apart from an occasional slip: on each of its moves there is a 30% chance at a streak of 5, shrinking by 15% for every further win but never reaching zero. A slip is always a move that a perfect reply can punish.
Goal: longest winning streak.
Your streak survives only while you keep winning — a loss and a draw both end it. The squares are not equal: the centre belongs to four of the eight winning lines, each corner to three, and each edge to only two, so edges are rarely worth an early play. Even so, open in a corner: at a streak of 2–4 the computer always takes the centre in reply, and a corner opening then leads to a forced win, while a centre opening against the same computer can only draw.
Winning rather than drawing comes from a fork — one move that opens two threats at once, so the computer can block only one. Check first for your own three-in-a-row, then for a block you must make, and only then for a fork. From a streak of 5 the computer plays perfectly unless it slips, and a draw ends your run, so careful play alone is not enough. Watch every reply it makes: a slip always turns the position into a forced win for you, so the moment one happens, find the fork that punishes it instead of carrying on safely towards a draw.