What is Wild Tic-Tac-Toe?
In Wild Tic-Tac-Toe, also called your-choice tic-tac-toe, the symbols belong to nobody. On each turn the player to move chooses whether to write an X or an O in an empty square. Whoever completes a line of three like symbols, across, down or diagonally, wins, whether the line is made of X's or of O's and whoever placed its other two symbols. If the board fills without a line, the game is a draw.
The seats are still called X and O, and X still moves first, but the names only tell you whose turn it is. Every line holding two like symbols and an empty square is a win for the player to move, so the first skill is never to leave one behind. The second is to steer the game into a position where every move your opponent can make sets one up for you.
Unlike standard tic-tac-toe, the game is not a draw. A computer search of every position shows that the first player wins with perfect play, but only by opening in the centre, with either symbol. After any other first move the second player can hold a draw.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Tic-Tac-Toe | Wild Tic-Tac-Toe |
|---|---|---|
| Symbols | Standard Tic-Tac-ToeThe first player always writes X and the second player always writes O. | Wild Tic-Tac-ToeOn every move, the player to move chooses whether to write X or O. |
| How to win | Standard Tic-Tac-ToeComplete a line of three of your own marks. | Wild Tic-Tac-ToeComplete a line of three like symbols, X's or O's, whoever placed the other two. |
| Draws | Standard Tic-Tac-ToeA full board without a line is a draw. | Wild Tic-Tac-ToeThe same: a full board without a line is a draw. |
| Perfect play | Standard Tic-Tac-ToeA draw. | Wild Tic-Tac-ToeA win for the first player, who must open in the centre. |
| Board and options | Standard Tic-Tac-ToeA 3×3 board. The table setup also offers 4×4 and 5×5 boards, where four in a row wins. | Wild Tic-Tac-ToeAny board size, with four like symbols in a row on 4×4 and 5×5. Wild combines with Misère, where whoever completes a line loses, and with gravity. |
History
Wild tic-tac-toe is a folk variant with no known inventor. It is described in recreational mathematics and game theory books, sometimes under the name your-choice tic-tac-toe, and it can also be played as a misère game, in which the player who completes a line loses instead of winning. Both forms are available here: switch on Misère as well as Wild in the table setup.
The idea of letting both players use both symbols reappears in Order and Chaos, a 6×6 game from 1981 in which the two players have different goals.