3D tic-tac-toe
| 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Atari, Inc |
| Publisher(s) | Atari Inc. |
| Designer(s) | Carol Shaw |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 Atari 8-bit family |
| Release | 1978 |
3D tic-tac-toe, also known by the trade name Qubic, is an abstract strategy board game, generally for two players. It is similar in concept to traditional tic-tac-toe but is played in a cubical array of cells, usually 4x4x4. Players take turns placing their markers in blank cells in the array. The first player to achieve four of their own markers in a row wins. The winning row can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal on a single board as in regular tic-tac-toe, or vertically in a column, or a diagonal line through four boards.
As with traditional tic-tac-toe, several commercial sets of apparatus have been sold for the game, and it may also be played with pencil and paper with a hand-drawn board.
The game has been analyzed mathematically and a first-player-win strategy was developed and published. However, the strategy is too complicated for most human players to memorize and apply.
Like traditional 3x3 tic-tac-toe, the game may be played with pencil and paper. A game board can easily be drawn by hand, with players using the usual "naughts and crosses" to mark their moves.
In the 1970s 3M Games (a division of 3M Corporation) sold a series of "Paper Games", including "3 Dimensional Tic Tac Toe". Buyers received a pad of 50 sheets with preprinted game boards.
"Qubic" is the brand name of equipment for the 4x4x4 game that was manufactured and marketed by Parker Brothers, starting in 1964. It was reissued in 1972 with a more modern design. Both versions described the game as "Parker Brothers 3D Tic Tac Toe Game".
In the original issue the bottom level board was opaque plastic, and the upper three clear, all of simple square design. The 1972 reissue used four clear plastic boards with rounded corners. Whereas pencil and paper play almost always involves just two players, Parker Brothers' rules said that up to three players could play. The circular playing pieces resembled small poker chips in red, blue, and yellow.
The game is no longer manufactured.
The 3x3x3 version of the game cannot end in a draw, and is easily won by the first player. The following applies to the 4x4x4 version of the game.
There are 76 winning lines. On each of the four 4x4 boards, or horizontal planes, there are four columns, four rows, and two diagonals, accounting for 40 lines. There are 16 vertical lines, each ascending from a cell on the bottom board through the corresponding cells on the other boards. There are eight vertically-oriented planes parallel to the sides of the boards, each of these adding two more diagonals (the horizontal and vertical lines of these planes have already been counted). Finally, there are two vertically-oriented planes that include the diagonal lines of the 4x4 boards, and each of these contributes two more diagonal lines—each of these including two corners and two internal cells.
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