Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe

Nine little tic-tac-toe boards, one big board — and every mark you make sends your opponent to the board you just played in.

How to play

Each of the nine cells inside a small board points to one of the nine small boards. Wherever you play, your opponent must play their next mark in the matching board. Win a small board with three in a row to claim it, then line up three claimed boards to take the game.

• X moves first; play only in the highlighted active board
• If you are sent to a board that is already won or full, you may play in any open board
• Claim three small boards in a row, column, or diagonal to win

Controls

• Desktop: click a cell inside the highlighted board
• Phone & tablet: tap a cell inside the highlighted board

Game modes

• Versus CPU at Easy, Medium, or Hard, playing as X or O
• Two-player pass-and-play on one device
• Online match against another person via invite code or quick match

Tips & strategy

• Think about where your move sends your opponent — feeding them a dead or won board hands them a free choice
• Centre boards and centre cells stay valuable, just like in ordinary tic-tac-toe
• Sometimes sacrificing a small board is worth it to control which board your rival plays next

About Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe

This is a layered take on the classic noughts-and-crosses grid, turning a quick draw-prone game into a deep nesting puzzle of forced moves. It is an original, free browser game with no download or sign-up required.

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