07 Jan 08
Originally posted by pawnhandlerI did make a program, back in the '80s. Sold it to the defense department, then some snafu happened, a kid and his girlfriend used a backdoor to hack into the U.S. missle defense system, had a tense moment or two, ruffled a few feathers, and wouldn't you know it? My program apparently formed an emergent-property AI and it refused to play Tic-Tac-Toe anymore! It suggested that chess was a better game, and that's what led me here after a long and winding road.
Center.
Any other spot limits your options. But if you had lots of time you could make a computer program and check the statistics and let us know!
Anyway, I think the corner square is the best starting choice, due to a common bit of human error/psychology on the part of one's opponent. If you go for the corner square, the opponent will take the center, then you take the opposite-diagonal corner square from your first choice. And this is where you will often get your cheap wins because a rushed opponent will then often take one of the remaining two corners, threatening to score a "toe", but when you block by taking the last remaining corner, ... Voila! you can now win in two directions and your opponent can't stop you.
My two cents on this tense debate.
07 Jan 08
Originally posted by Doctor Ratuummm yeah... think I saw that one . Ali Sheady and Mathew Broderick😉
I did make a program, back in the '80s. Sold it to the defense department, then some snafu happened, a kid and his girlfriend used a backdoor to hack into the U.S. missle defense system, had a tense moment or two, ruffled a few feathers, and wouldn't you know it? My program apparently formed an emergent-property AI and it refused to play Tic-Tac-Toe anymo ...[text shortened]... n two directions and your opponent can't stop you.
My two cents on this tense debate.
07 Jan 08
Originally posted by Doctor RatI loved that movie!! Do you want to play ThermoNuclear War?
I did make a program, back in the '80s. Sold it to the defense department, then some snafu happened, a kid and his girlfriend used a backdoor to hack into the U.S. missle defense system, had a tense moment or two, ruffled a few feathers, and wouldn't you know it? My program apparently formed an emergent-property AI and it refused to play Tic-Tac-Toe anymo ...[text shortened]... n two directions and your opponent can't stop you.
My two cents on this tense debate.
07 Jan 08
2 edits
Originally posted by Doctor RatI did actually write an AI tic-tac-toe game for the Sinclair QL when I was about 13 or 14 inspired by the film.
I did make a program, back in the '80s. Sold it to the defense department, then some snafu happened, a kid and his girlfriend used a backdoor to hack into the U.S. missle defense system, had a tense moment or two, ruffled a few feathers, and wouldn't you know it? My program apparently formed an emergent-property AI and it refused to play Tic-Tac-Toe anymo n two directions and your opponent can't stop you.
My two cents on this tense debate.
It was quite easy to do. There aren't that many combinations (which can be reduced because it is 4-fold symmetrical) so all it had to do was record what combinations resulted in wins and losses, and therefore the computer can know what to play next time. It worked rather well. 🙂
EDIT: Unfortunately it was a long time ago and didn't keep any statistics, but if I recall correctly, it went for centre more often as you played it.
Tip: If you play centre, and your opponent doesn't play in a corner, you have a forced win.