Ultimate Nought And Crosses

You play nine simultaneous games of noughts and crosses! But your goal is to win the “meta-game.” The meta-game is the three-by-three board made up of the nine games you are playing. To win the meta-game, you must be the first to win a line of games, just like winning an ordinary noughts-and-crosses game — but nine times harder.

The Rules

Just like in noughts and crosses, you take turns to play a move. The starting player plays X, the other player plays O. But instead of taking turns on the same board, there are two new rules for ultimate noughts and crosses:

1. Whichever square you play on in one of the nine boards dictates on which board your opponent must play their next move.
2. If rule 1 forces you to play on a game that is already finished, then you may instead play on any board you like.

Enjoy your challenge! If you want to play ultimate noughts and crosses on a real board, you can play on a tic-tac-ku set. Traditionalists may still prefer to play with pencil and paper.