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The Rules of Tic Tac Toe

The beauty of Tic Tac Toe has always been that it can be played anytime, anywhere and with anyone. No special skills are needed and almost everyone in the world knows how to play. Pick up a pen and a scrap of paper, and you've got a game. The rules are simple.

Simple Game
- Tic Tac Toe can be played anywhere, anytime.
  
  The game is simple. Players use a three-square-by-three-square grid. It can be simply drawn on a piece of paper. The first player makes her mark--an "X" or an "O"--on the square of her choice. Some people have a strategy, others just pick at random.
Play Continues
- Play Tic Tac Toe on a playground with rolling barrels.
  
  The next player makes his mark on one of the remaining squares. He must use an "X" or "O" but he does not have a choice. If the first player used an "X," the second player must use the "O." Play continues until one player has a row of three "Xs" or "Os" across the grid--either horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
Hard and Fast Rules
- A simple pen and paper game of Tic Tac Toe.
  
  The only hard and fast rule to Tic Tac Toe (or Naughts and Crosses, as it is called in the U.K.) is that the winner is the first person to get the row. If the squares on the grid are full but neither player has a row, there is a tie. A tie in Tic Tac Toe is called a "cat game."
Tic Tac Toe Versions
- There are many versions of Tic Tac Toe. The Hasbro game Connect Four is a board game version of Tic Tac Toe. Players use red and black disks to get a row of four to win. There are many websites on the Internet where you can play against the computer. There are also small wooden versions of Tic Tac Toe where pegs are used in holes drilled into the wood in the grid pattern.

Kids Games