Introduction

Learn about the game basics and its course structure.

We'll cover the following

Tic-Tac-Toe is a well-known classic strategy game. Two players play it on a 3×33 \times 3 grid using an “X” or an “O” as their designated marks. They attempt to achieve a winning combination of three marks in a row, column, or diagonal. Players use strategies to block their opponent’s moves while trying to set up winning sequences. Its popularity lies not only in its accessibility but also in its capacity to entertain and engage players of all ages.

Game rules

The players take turns placing their markers on an empty cell in the grid to play the game. The first player to get three of their markers in a row wins the game. If all the cells are filled and neither player has won, the game ends in a tie.

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Tic-Tac-Toe
Tic-Tac-Toe

The illustration above shows a board where 11–99 are the positions to place markers to play the game.

The number in a box means the box is available for the players to select on their turn.

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Player "X" places at 4
Player "X" places at 4
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The above illustration shows a game between player “X” and player “O.” Player “X” wins because it gets the three “X”s in the middle column.

Simulation

The widget below simulates the game developed in C++ with the same moves as demonstrated above. Click the “Run” button to start the simulation. It’ll take a few seconds to load and execute the program to sample inputs and outputs in the game.

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Tic-Tac-Toe

Course structure

We have divided this course into four conceptual parts:

  1. The modules at the main program level.

  2. The modules inside the main loop of the gameplay.

  3. The complete code for the game.

  4. Suggestions for improvement of the game outlook and logic.

The moves and the termination modules are further divided into subparts for better learning. Typically, only one function or module is discussed completely in each lesson.

Target audience

This course is primarily for programmers who have little or no experience. Therefore, we'll focus on each part of the program, no matter how small, in detail. Some points may be implemented in various ways, but we have kept our focus on simplicity and clarity.