Artificially Intelligent Tic-Tac-Ception

MICHAEL R. MATTHEWS

To those unfamiliar with Tic-Tac-Ception, the game is based upon the rules of Tic-Tac-Toe. Instead of one Tic-TacToe board, there are nine, in the shape of an even larger Tic-Tac-Toe board. On each turn, one draws an X or O in one of the smaller boards; the next player then must play in the Tic-Tac-Toe board that corresponds to the location of the previous move. For example, if a player makes a move in the bottom right square of a small board, the next player would then have to make a move in the bottom right square of the larger board. When a player wins one of the smaller squares, the entire square is marked with a big X or O for the overall board. If a move sends a player to a square that has been won by either player, the player may choose to play in any of the squares. One wins the game by successfully winning the larger board, just like standard Tic-Tac-Toe. The A.I. plays against a human opponent using a Minimax game tree search algorithm with alpha-beta pruning. This program is written in Python. The program assumes that the opponent will play perfectly and looks several steps into the future. The program attempts to the best of its capability to not let the opponent win. At the same time the program implements strategies that give it the best opportunity to win.