Classic Games - Tic-Tac-Toe (basic)

The origins of tic-tac-toe date all the way back to 1st century BC, when the game “Terni Lapilli” (“Three Pebbles at a Time”) was played in Ancient Rome. Each player used 3 pebbles, which they had to move around on each turn. Over the centuries the game was thought to possess magical elements - in fact medieval pagan rituals were sometimes linked to it! It was only in the mid-1800s that people realized that there were no magical or mystical powers attached to the game. Shortly thereafter it started to be used as a children's game in Britain, where it was named "noughts and crosses" (with nought referring to the O’s (zeros) used in the game). The game made its way to the US in the 20th century, where it was renamed "tic-tac-toe". Around the world tic-tac-toe is typically one of the first games children learn to play owing to its easy setup and simple rules. In fact the World’s first video game was a version of tic-tac-toe, created in 1952! Although tic-tac-toe appears simplistic to play, it contains 138 terminal board positions and 255,168 possible ways these terminal board positions are obtained. Tic-tac-toe is a two player game that takes turn marking spaces on a 3 by 3 grid, and the objective of the game is to place three connecting marks in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row.