Tic-tac-toe, also spelled tick tack toe, and alternatively called noughts and crosses, hugs and kisses, and many other names, is a pencil-and-paper game for two players, O and X, who take turns marking the spaces in a 3×3 grid, usually X going first. The player who succeeds in placing three respective marks in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row wins the game. The following example game is won by the first player, X: Players soon discover that best play from both parties leads to a draw. Hence, tic-tac-toe is most often played by young children; when they have discovered an unbeatable strategy they move on to more sophisticated games such as dots and boxes or 12-cell tic-tac-toe. This reputation for ease has led to casinos offering gamblers the chance to play tic-tac-toe against trained chickens—though the chicken is advise

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