Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe: The Rules

Ultimate Tic Tac Toe, also known as Nine Board Tic Tac Toe, is an interesting variation on the classic game. The board is composed of a 3x3 grid of Big Squares. Inside of each Big Square is another 3x3 grid, so there are 9 Small Squares inside each Big Square. The position you play in a Small Square then determines which Big Square your opponent can play in, and vice versa. It's a really neat game! Can you figure out the best way to play?

This game has been popularized by Ben Orlin of MathWithBadDrawings, and this is the article where I learned about this game:

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[charalampost]

This is wrong. The rules of Ultimate tic tac toe dictate that when a player wins a small tic tac toe by putting three Xs or Os in a row then he claims that square and no other symbols may be put in that square. So in your example when the O player makes a tic tac toe in the central big square at 1:25 then he wins that big square and nobody can play there any more. If you have to play there you choose any other place instead.

[SimonTiger]

The game is Tic-Tac-Toe, except it's Tic-Tac-Toe in Tic-Tac-Toe, also known as Tic-Tac-Tic-Tac-Toe-Toe.

[nayutaito]

Next step:
Ultimate Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe (3x3 in 3x3 in 3x3)

[Klonoa]

New things got added

Scissors cuts paper,
Paper covers rock,
Rock crushes lizard,
Lizard poisons Spock,
Spock smashes scissors,
Scissors decapitate lizard,
Lizard eats paper,
Paper disproves Spock,
Spock vaporizes rock,
Rock crushes scissors.

[The_True_J]

One way that I play is the same rules but once someone gets 3 in a row in any of the 9 squares thats a win. It forces you to think about where you are sending the opponent and ultimately the game becomes 'Can I force my opponent to send me to a square where I will win?'

[AA-]

One of the rules arent correct after doing research on the rules of the game. The rule is that if someone gets 3 in a row on a square, that square is marked with a big x or o and no further moves can be made in that square. In this video it says that this only applies if the entire square is full.

[joeadams]

Since you not count the wins at the end and can play on a board with a win already on it, you can have both players win the same board and use that double win board for either player. Also if you need to move onto a specific board, try and force your opponents move to a cell leading to that board. You’d have to know which board you’re going to a few steps before hand and eliminate all the spots other than the one you want later

[itsmeosmig]

My Algebra teacher in high school thought me this and because of it I am majoring in computer 🖥️ science I told her I was going to code it and she said I'll play it with you when that happens ❤

[marioprisciandaro]

I (and others as made evident by the comments) play differently. Once one person gets three in a row in a small grid, it is taken and no more shapes can be played there. If you are sent to a taken square by your opponent's move, you may move anywhere on the board.

[paulbloemen]

Neat game to train AI-Zero, and find out whether there is a winning strategy. And a cute game to play on a rainy day during a summer holiday.

[FarCritical]

This looks like it would be a blast to play but I think a lot of my friends would have a lot of trouble trying to remember the rules

[demooisteNAAM]

Super, thank you! Greetings from Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

[ayershov]

Now I want to write an AI for this game :D

[santinodemaria]

This game is really cool. When quarantine ends i wanna play it

[creaty]

But what happens when it’s a draw in one of the mini games? Who gets that square?

[LP-frgj]

Can anyone simplify what presh said in this video ! I am a bit poor in English and hence didn't understood what he explained I mean the rules to play Ultimate tic tac toe

[ganeshnerati]

The next thing you know 3x3 grid each sqaure is 3x3 grid with each square in that is 3x3 grid too.😂

[AnjanOleti]

Ah nice :)
Looking forward for the video on winning strategy..

[PricklyPineapplesProductions]

Is there a way to make the smaller games have their own game totaling 729 spaces?

[shrug]

How about super mega tic tax toe, where there are grids, inside grids, inside a big grid