If the first player chose a side cell, then the second player can force victory.
If both players know what they’re doing, it SHOULD always be a draw.
If you’re playing a little kid or someone who’s only done it a few times, you can win.
If you go first and STILL lose, you’re not very bright.
No, that isn’t true.
Think of it this way: if you’re the first player, you can’t force a win. Being the second player after the first player has chosen a side cell is like being the first player, only with a handicap of sorts.
I was always able to win when I took the center block. Of course I never played against a super computer. :eek:
Ah, right. All the strategies I’ve seen for player 1 start with a corner, so I was thinking that was necessary… but of course it’s not.
You shouldn’t always be able to win. If you take center in your first move as X, and your opponent takes a side, then, yes, you will always be able to force a win. If you take center as X in your first move and your opponent takes a corner (which is what they should always do if you take center), it should be a draw, unless they (or you) play really idiotically.
Funny enough, the first video game (if you can call it that) that I ever played was tic-tac-toe against a computer at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. I was probably 8 or 10 at the time, so circa 1972-1974.
The computer won sometimes, and we tied a whole lot. The computer never lost and to me this was simply amazing at the time. How could a machine be so intelligent? I knew it was simply programming at the time, but knew nothing about programming, so it was fascinating.
When my kids were little we played this game a lot. It’s fascinating to see kids go from being duped to being your equal in a few weeks. Brains are wonderful machines too.