If you search the Web for Noughts and Crosses or Tic-Tac-Toe games you will be
quite surprised to find how many there are, however, there seems to be two
games in particular that have been taken from tutorial books on JavaScript
and Java that are nothing more than the example programs re-badged and
included on many owner's pages.This program, I am proud to say, was developed from scratch and is not derived
in any way from any example code obtained elsewhere.
The primary goals in writing this program were to -
- Learn the JavaScript language and its nuances
- Produce a program that was entirely JavaScript based and self contained
- Produce a program that was highly efficient ( and quick ) when determining
which moves to make and detecting when the conclusion to a game had been
reached
- Create a playing strategy for the computer oponent whereby it would always
win or force a draw which could be efficiently implemented
- Produce a program that was user friendly and enjoyable to play
- Utilise Cookies to remember the score and other settings between games
I believe I have met those goals [ although there is some work to do on the
computer opponent's aggressive strategy ] and, as well as playing Noughts and
Crosses, this program clearly demonstrates the power of JavaScript.
The game
The normal rules of Noughts and Crosses ( or Tic-Tac-Toe ) apply; the player
and computer take it in turn to place an O or an X on the board. When three
O's or three X's are placed in a line ( left-to-right, top-to-bottom or
diagonally ) the game is won. If neither three O's or three X's are in a line
and there is no space left on the board then the game is drawn.
The player can chose to be either O's or X's and can chose to go first or let
the computer start. If the computer is to go first then the Start Game
or Start Again button must be clicked to commence a game.
The computer will normally play quite well but may be beaten unless the
Computer plays aggressively option is selected when it will always
play to win or force a draw [ this is not fully implemented yet and the
computer can still be beaten ].
The computer can also be told to resign early if it realises that it can't
win or draw and you can resign ( if there is no possibility of winning or
drawing ) by clicking the Resign button. The Start Again
button can be used to abandon a current game and start a new one.
If you have enabled the saving of cookies in your browser and have
selected the
Remember scores between visits to this page option; the scores after
each game and your current game play selections will be stored when you
leave this page and will be restored when you return to this page within two
months ( the scores and settings will be lost if you do not return to this
page within two months ).
You can examine the settings assigned to the cookie used for this page ( which
is named $OXOscore ), and any others used
on this site, by using the Cookie Editor provided.
