• BleakBluets@lemmy.worldEnglish
      491·
      19 hours ago

      Both surgeons are bad it seems. Assuming X went first and played in the middle (the most optimal and common move), He could have won a turn early because O would have had to miss a block on O’s previous turn.

      Edit: The only case where this isn’t true is if X’s most recent move was the X in the center which would mean that the center was open for every previous turn. That still doesn’t bode well for either of their abilities.

      • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        5·
        9 hours ago

        tic-tac-toe is so pointless. It always ends in a tie unless if one player is just picking random spaces.

      • Red Army Dog Cooper@lemmy.ml
        16·
        16 hours ago

        The corner, where he played is actually more optimal because it is easier to force a fork from that position, though as you said the middle is the most common

          • AEsheron@lemmy.world
            1·
            34 minutes ago

            That’s not true, you can force a tie at worst from a middle start. The issue is, if you start middle, you can only force a win if they take a side, not a corner. If you start corner you can force a win as long as they don’t take the middle.

            • AEsheron@lemmy.world
              1·
              2 minutes ago

              While it is true that will always result in a winning line, it’s not true that it is the only way to force a win. Half of their moves will allow you to play adjacent to you starting corner towards an open corner and still force a win, as long as their first play isn’t the opposite corner or any of its 3 adjacent spaces. In fact, if they start in one of the adjacent sides or non-opposite corners, you have 3 winning moves. If they start on a side, you can take either the open, non-opposite corner, the side leading to that corner, or the middle. If they start in a non-opposite corner, you can take the first two moves above, or the opposite corner.