How to play Tic-Tac-Toe
Tic-Tac-Toe is a two-player game on a grid of nine squares. One player is X and the other is O. Take turns marking a square; the first to get three in a row wins.
- Ages 4+
- 2 players
- About 5 minutes
- You need: paper and a pencil, or chalk
Easy rules, to read aloud
- Draw two lines down and two lines across.
- One player is X and one player is O.
- Take turns drawing your mark in an empty square.
- Get three in a row to win.
- A row can go across, up and down, or corner to corner.
- If the squares fill up with no row, nobody wins.
The full rules
- Draw a grid of nine squares with two lines down and two lines across.
- Decide who is X and who is O. X goes first, and players take turns going first from game to game.
- On your turn, draw your mark in any empty square.
- The first player with three marks in a line, across, down or corner to corner, wins.
- If all nine squares fill and no one has three in a row, the game is a draw.
How to win: Three in a row wins. If both players always make the best moves, the game ends in a draw.
Tips
- The middle square is part of the most lines.
- Before every move, check whether the other player is about to get three in a row, and block them.
- Corners are strong spots too.
What it practises
planning ahead, spotting patterns, taking turns.
Other ways to play
- 3D tic-tac-toe. Play on three stacked grids that make a cube, where a line can run through all three layers.
- Notakto. Both players use only X. Whoever makes three in a row loses.
About the game
In 1952, Sandy Douglas made a computer version called OXO for the EDSAC computer at the University of Cambridge.
You may also hear it called Noughts and Crosses or X's and O's, or know a boxed game like it. This page is about the traditional game, which anyone may play.
The age is our own suggestion: Peabody's suggestion (drawing X and O and spotting three in a row). Sources we read: Wikipedia: Tic-tac-toe. Every word here is Peabody's own. Checked .