Tic Tac Toe
TicTacToe game playing
Two players
human
computer.
The objective is to write a computer program in such
a way that computer wins most of the time.
Three approaches are presented to play this game
which increase in
Complexity
Use of generalization
Clarity of their knowledge
Extensibility of their approach
These approaches will move towards being
representations of what we will call AI techniques.
2
Tic Tac Toe Board-
(or Noughts and
crosses,
Xs andX Os)
It is two players,
and O, game who take turns marking the
spaces in a 33 grid. The player who succeeds in placing three
respective marks in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row wins
the game.
positions
Approach 1
Data Structure
Consider a Board having nine elements vector.
Each element will contain
0 for blank
1 indicating X player move
2 indicating O player move
Computer may play as X or O player.
First player who so ever is always plays X.
Move Table MT
MT is a vector of 39 elements, each element of
which is a nine element vector representing
board position.
Total of 39 (19683) elements in MT
Index
0
1
2
3
:
:
Current Board position New Board position
000000000 000010000
000000001 020000001
000000002
000100002
000000010
002000010
Algorithm
To make a move, do the following:
View the vector (board) as a ternary number and
convert it to its corresponding decimal number.
Use the computed number as an index into the
MT and access the vector stored there.
The selected vector represents the way the board will
look after the move.
Set board equal to that vector.
Comments
Very efficient in terms of time but has several
disadvantages.
Lot of space to store the move table.
Lot of work to specify all the entries in move table.
Highly error prone as the data is voluminous.
Poor extensibility
3D tic-tac-toe = 327 board position to be stored.
Not intelligent at all.
Approach 2
Data Structure
Board: A nine-element vector representing the board:
B[1..9]
Following conventions are used
2
3
5
indicates blank
X
0
Turn: An integer
1
9
First move
Last move
8
Procedures Used
Make_2 Tries to make valid 2
Make_2 first tries to play in the center if free and
returns 5 (square number).
If not possible, then it tries the various suitable
non corner square and returns square number.
Go(n) makes a move in square n which is
blank represented by 2.
Procedure - PossWin
PossWin (P) Returns
0, if player P cannot win in its next move,
otherwise the number of square that constitutes a
winning move for P.
Rule
If PossWin (P) = 0 {P can not win} then find
whether opponent can win. If so, then block it.
10
Strategy used by PosWin
PosWin checks one at a time, for each
rows /columns and diagonals as follows.
If 3 * 3 * 2
= 18 then player X can win
else if 5 * 5 * 2 = 50 then player O can win
These procedures are used in the algorithm
on the next slide.
11
Algorithm
Assumptions
The first player always uses symbol X.
There are in all 8 moves in the worst case.
Computer is represented by C and Human is
represented by H.
Convention used in algorithm on next slide
If C plays first (Computer plays X, Human plays O) Odd moves
If H plays first (Human plays X, Computer plays O) Even moves
For the sake of clarity, we use C and H.
12
Algo - Computer plays first C plays
odd moves
Move 1: Go (5)
Move 2: H plays
Move 3: If B[9] is blank, then Go(9) else Go(3) {make 2}
Move 4: H plays
Move 5: {By now computer has played 2 chances}
If PossWin(C) then {won} Go(PossWin(C))
else {block H} if PossWin(H) then Go(PossWin(H)) else if B[7] is
blank then Go(7) else Go(3)
Move 6: H plays
Moves 7 & 9 :
If PossWin(C) then {won} Go(PossWin(C))
else {block H} if PossWin(H) then Go(PossWin(H)) else
Go(Anywhere)
Move 8: H plays
13
Algo - Human plays first C plays
even
moves
Move 1: H plays
Move 2: If B[5] is blank, then Go(5) else Go(1)
Move 3: H plays
Move 4: {By now H has played 2 chances}
If PossWin(H) then {block H} Go (PossWin(H))
else Go (Make_2)
Move 5: H plays
Move 6: {By now both have played 2 chances}
If PossWin(C) then {won} Go(PossWin(C))
else {block H} if PossWin(H) then Go(PossWin(H)) else
Go(Make_2)
Moves 7 & 9 : H plays
Move 8: {By now computer has played 3 chances}
If PossWin(C) then {won} Go(PossWin(C))
else {block H} if PossWin(H) then Go(PossWin(H)) else
Go(Anywhere)
14
Complete Algorithm Odd moves or
even moves for C playing first or
second
Move 1: go (5)
Move 2: If B[5] is blank, then Go(5) else Go(1)
Move 3: If B[9] is blank, then Go(9) else Go(3) {make 2}
Move 4: {By now human (playing X) has played 2 chances} If
PossWin(X) then {block H} Go (PossWin(X)) else Go (Make_2)
Move 5: {By now computer has played 2 chances} If PossWin(X) then
{won} Go(PossWin(X)) else {block H}
if PossWin(O) then
Go(PossWin(O)) else if B[7] is blank then Go(7) else Go(3)
Move 6: {By now both have played 2 chances} If PossWin(O) then
{won} Go(PossWin(O)) else {block H} if PossWin(X) then Go(PossWin(X))
else Go(Make_2)
Moves 7 & 9 : {By now human (playing O) has played 3 chances} If
PossWin(X) then {won} Go(PossWin(X)) else {block H} if PossWin(O)
then Go(PossWin(O)) else Go(Anywhere)
Move 8: {By now computer has played 3 chances} If PossWin(O) then
{won} Go(PossWin(O)) else {block H} if PossWin(X) then Go(PossWin(X))
else Go(Anywhere)
15
Comments
Not as efficient as first one in terms of time.
Several conditions are checked before each
move.
It is memory efficient.
Easier to understand & complete strategy has
been determined in advance
Still can not generalize to 3-D.
16
Approach 3
Same as approach 2 except for one change
in the representation of the board.
Board is considered to be a magic square of size
3 X 3 with 9 blocks numbered by numbers
indicated by magic square.
This representation makes process
checking for a possible win more simple.
of
17
Board Layout Magic Square
Board Layout as magic square. Each row,
column and diagonals add to 15.
Magic Square
18
Strategy for possible win for
one player
Maintain the list of each players blocks in
which he has played.
Consider each pair of blocks that player owns.
Compute difference D between 15 and the sum of
the two blocks.
If D < 0 or D > 9 then
these two blocks are not collinear and so can be
ignored
otherwise if the block representing difference is
blank (i.e., not in either list) then a move in that
block will produce a win.
19
Working Example of algorithm
Assume that the following lists are maintained up to
3rd move.
Consider the magic block shown in slide 18.
First Player X (Human)
3
Second Player O (Computer)
20
Working contd..
Strategy is same as in approach 2
First check if computer can win.
If not then check if opponent can win.
If so, then block it and proceed further.
Steps involved in the play are:
First chance, H plays in block numbered as 8
Next C plays in block numbered as 5
H plays in block numbered 3
Now there is a turn of computer.
21
Working contd..
Strategy by computer: Since H has played two
turns and C has played only one turn, C checks
if H can win or not.
Compute sum of blocks played by H
S = 8 + 3 = 11
Compute D = 15 11 = 4
Block 4 is a winning block for H.
So block this block and play in block numbered 4.
The list of C gets updated with block number 4 as
follows:
H 8 3
C 5 4
22
Contd..
Assume that H plays in block numbered 6.
Now its a turn of C.
C checks, if C can win as follows:
Compute sum of blocks played by C
S=5+4=9
Compute D = 15 9 = 6
Block 6 is not free, so C can not win at this turn.
Now check if H can win.
Compute sum of new pairs (8, 6) and (3, 6) from the list of H
S = 8 + 6 = 14
Compute D = 15 14 = 1
Block 1 is not used by either player, so C plays in block
numbered as 1
23
Contd..
The updated lists at 6th move looks as follows:
First Player H
8
Second Player C
5
4
Assume that now H plays in 2.
Using same strategy, C checks its pair (5, 1) and
(4, 1) and finds bock numbered as 9 {15-6 = 9}.
Block 9 is free, so C plays in 9 and win the game.
24
Comments
This program will require more time than two
others as
it has to search a tree representing all possible
move sequences before making each move.
This approach is extensible to handle
3-dimensional tic-tac-toe.
games more complicated than tic-tac-toe.
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