<p>You could draw a 2D array of 2D boards, like this:</p>

<pre><code>▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢b▢
aaa ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢

▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢b▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢

c▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢c▢ ▢▢▢
▢b▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢c
</code></pre>

<p>You'd probably want a 4x4 array of 4x4 boards, though I used 3s everywhere instead to make the example smaller. The example shows a few of the many winning lines (a-c). If it's not clear what counts as a winning line, let's go back to 2D tic-tac-toe and think in terms of coordinates. You could label the normal 2D board like this:</p>

<pre><code>(0,0) (1,0) (2,0)
(0,1) (1,1) (2,1)
(0,2) (1,2) (2,2)
</code></pre>

<p>You win by getting a straight line of 3. A straight line will always be one where <strong>each coordinate either increases by 1, decreases by 1, or stays the same.</strong> So you can win with (2,0), (1,1), and (0,2) because the first coordinate is decreasing by 1 and the second increases by 1.</p>

<p>Higher-dimensional tic-tac-toe works the same way! So in 4D tic-tac-toe we'd use 4 coordinates - in the visualization above, 2 for which board and 2 for where on that board. Then a winning line follows the same rule, e.g. line b above is (2,0,1,0), (1,1,1,1), and (0,2,1,2): the first coordinate (which column of boards you are on) continually decreases by 1, the second coordinate (which row of boards) increases by 1, the third (which column of a given board) stays the same, and the fourth (which row of a given board) increases by 1.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-27T23:30:45.160Z
2017-03-27T23:30:45.160Z
Benjamin Cosman
<p>Quite simple, how do I play 4D TicTacToe? Anybody can imagine a dot. Anybody can imagine a line. Anybody can imagine a plane. Most people can imagine a solid. What about a four dimensional object? No one can picture that - or smart people can. </p>

<p>I would like a full guide of how to play with examples! </p>

<p>P.S. I know that people would class this as 'too broad', but it is not, since unlike things like scrabble or monopoly, there is only on way! Thanks in advance! </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-28T00:28:27.020Z
Regardless of if there is only one way to play the game or whether there are multiple hundreds of ways to play it, asking for the complete rules of a game is far too broad for an answer here.
Ken Herbert
<variants><tic-tac-toe>
How do I play 4D Tic-Tac-Toe?
Xetrov
# How do I play 4D Tic-Tac-Toe?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-03-27)

Quite simple, how do I play 4D TicTacToe? Anybody can imagine a dot. Anybody can imagine a line. Anybody can imagine a plane. Most people can imagine a solid. What about a four dimensional object? No one can picture that - or smart people can.

I would like a full guide of how to play with examples!

P.S. I know that people would class this as 'too broad', but it is not, since unlike things like scrabble or monopoly, there is only on way! Thanks in advance!

**Tags:** variants, tic-tac-toe

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Regardless of if there is only one way to play the game or whether there are multiple hundreds of ways to play it, asking for the complete rules of a game is far too broad for an answer here.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-03-27. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

You could draw a 2D array of 2D boards, like this:

```
▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢b▢
aaa ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢

▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢b▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢

c▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢
▢▢▢ ▢c▢ ▢▢▢
▢b▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢c

```

You'd probably want a 4x4 array of 4x4 boards, though I used 3s everywhere instead to make the example smaller. The example shows a few of the many winning lines (a-c). If it's not clear what counts as a winning line, let's go back to 2D tic-tac-toe and think in terms of coordinates. You could label the normal 2D board like this:

```
(0,0) (1,0) (2,0)
(0,1) (1,1) (2,1)
(0,2) (1,2) (2,2)

```

You win by getting a straight line of 3. A straight line will always be one where **each coordinate either increases by 1, decreases by 1, or stays the same.** So you can win with (2,0), (1,1), and (0,2) because the first coordinate is decreasing by 1 and the second increases by 1.

Higher-dimensional tic-tac-toe works the same way! So in 4D tic-tac-toe we'd use 4 coordinates - in the visualization above, 2 for which board and 2 for where on that board. Then a winning line follows the same rule, e.g. line b above is (2,0,1,0), (1,1,1,1), and (0,2,1,2): the first coordinate (which column of boards you are on) continually decreases by 1, the second coordinate (which row of boards) increases by 1, the third (which column of a given board) stays the same, and the fourth (which row of a given board) increases by 1.


---

