Groups > sci.electronics.basics > #49203

Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners?

From	Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk>
Newsgroups	sci.electronics.basics, comp.programming
Subject	Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners?
Date	2016-12-11 17:26 +0000
Organization	Fix this later
Message-ID	<o2k266$onn$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<ea8028b0-97d4-4e6f-b7c1-d723a21013dc@googlegroups.com> <o1rklm$m4r$1@dont-email.me> <o2h6um$qs4$1@dont-email.me> <o2ikog$8i1$1@dont-email.me> <o2jtfq$2hh$4@dont-email.me>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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On 11/12/16 16:06, Ben Bacarisse wrote:
> "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On 10/12/2016 11:29 PM, Tom Del Rosso wrote:
>>> You should start in the corner, not the center.
>>
>> BTW, do you wanna to prove your claim? :)
>
> If I remember correctly, there are more ways of winning if you start in
> the corner (the proof is simply by counting games) and, since you can't
> be forced to lose if you start there, you could argue that you might as
> well do that.

Playing the game against people is very different from playing it 
against a computer. You won't fool a well-written program, but people 
can be suckered into losing. And the first rule of suckering people is 
to start in a corner. If you start in the middle, they'll pretty well 
know how to force a draw. But if you start in a corner, they're less 
likely to correctly select a safe move. Of course it's impossible to 
demonstrate this over Usenet, especially to programmers, because nobody 
is going to post a move without analysing it to death first. But in the 
real world, people don't do that. They know it's a forced draw, they 
assume they can't lose, and they play carelessly --- and then they don't 
understand why they lost.

-- 
Richard Heathfield
Email: rjh at cpax dot org dot uk
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
Sig line 4 vacant - apply within

Thread

[OT] Play tic-tac-toe using e-Letters or i-Letters! "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-02 19:08 +0800
  Re: [OT] Play tic-tac-toe using e-Letters or i-Letters! "Tom Del Rosso" <fizzbintuesday@that-google-mail-domain.com> - 2016-12-10 10:29 -0500
    Re: [OT] Play tic-tac-toe using e-Letters or i-Letters! "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-11 11:49 +0800
    Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-11 12:31 +0800
      Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-11 16:06 +0000
        Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Winning? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-12 00:11 +0800
          Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Winning? Ralph Mowery <rmowery28146@earthlink.net> - 2016-12-11 11:35 -0500
        Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? Jim Thompson <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon@On-My-Web-Site.com> - 2016-12-11 09:32 -0700
          Re: [OT] Games must have winner? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-12 12:10 +0800
        Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-11 17:26 +0000
          Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: computers vs humans "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-12 12:12 +0800
        Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? "Tom Del Rosso" <fizzbintuesday@that-google-mail-domain.com> - 2016-12-11 20:23 -0500
          Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-12 12:14 +0800
            Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-12 08:41 +0000
              Tic-tac-toe as an 100% electronic game? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-12 18:44 +0800
          Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? George Herold <gherold@teachspin.com> - 2016-12-13 12:22 -0800
            Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? "Tom Del Rosso" <fizzbintuesday@that-google-mail-domain.com> - 2016-12-15 01:45 -0500
              Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-15 19:46 +0800
              Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? George Herold <gherold@teachspin.com> - 2016-12-15 06:47 -0800
                Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? "Tom Del Rosso" <fizzbintuesday@that-google-mail-domain.com> - 2016-12-15 18:25 -0500
              Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe strategy: Start in corners? Jasen Betts <jasen@xnet.co.nz> - 2016-12-16 03:36 +0000
                Re: [OT] Tic-tac-toe? Sodoku? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-16 12:52 +0800

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