3D Tic-Tac-Toe

Since school, we've become accustomed to 2D tic-tac-toe on a 3x3 board. It would seem that extrapolating this scheme to 3D space—3x3x3—should promise even more interesting gameplay. That might be true, but not if your opponent is a computer program that always makes the first move. In the theory of n-dimensional tic-tac-toe, there's an optimal competitive zone: "first mover wins" vs. "permanent draw," which is determined by a specific board size, expressed by the simple formula (n+1) x (n+1) x (n+1) x (n+1)…(n+1) – n times. At least, including n=5 (five-dimensional tic-tac-toe!), this formula has been proven and verified. The smaller side size of a multidimensional board will more likely result in a win for the player who goes first. In the case of the game we're discussing today— 3x3x3 Tic-Tac-Toe —it's easy to guess who will win, especially if the computer opponent makes the first move.