Tic Tac Glow

Play as X

The player always uses the coral-colored X symbol and takes the first turn.

Select any empty cell to place an X. After the move is accepted, that cell becomes unavailable and the game checks whether the move created a winning line.

If the round is still active, control passes to the AI.

Challenge the O Player

The AI uses the turquoise O symbol. After the player makes a valid move, the interface displays “AI IS THINKING…” and temporarily disables the board.

The AI waits approximately 0.48 seconds before placing its symbol. This short delay makes the computer’s move easier to follow than an instant response.

After the AI completes its move, the game checks for a win or draw before returning control to the player.

Choose Between Three Difficulties

Tic Tac Glow includes three AI difficulty settings.

Easy Mode

Easy mode selects randomly from the cells that remain available.

The AI does not calculate the strongest possible move, giving the player more opportunities to create a winning line.

This mode is suitable for beginners or players who want a relaxed match.

Smart Mode

Smart mode combines calculated decisions with occasional random choices.

For most turns, it uses the same minimax evaluation as Unbeatable mode. However, it has a 28 percent chance of selecting a random available cell.

This creates a more natural opponent that can make strong moves without playing perfectly during every round.

Unbeatable Mode

Unbeatable mode always uses the minimax algorithm to evaluate the available moves.

The algorithm simulates future turns for both X and O. It gives positive values to positions where the AI can win, negative values to positions where the player can win, and a neutral value to draws.

It also considers the search depth, allowing the AI to prefer faster victories and delay unavoidable defeats.

Because Tic-Tac-Toe has only nine cells, the complete decision tree is small enough to evaluate during gameplay without requiring a large processing system.

Create a Winning Line

The game checks eight possible winning combinations after every move:

• Three horizontal rows
• Three vertical columns
• Two diagonals

When a valid line is detected, the board is disabled and a golden line appears across the three winning symbols.

The winning line changes its position, rotation, and length depending on whether the completed combination is horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.

Play Across Multiple Rounds

After a round ends, the result screen allows the player to begin another match immediately.

Starting a new round:

• Clears all nine cells
• Hides the previous winning line
• Resets the turn to the player
• Keeps the session score
• Restores interaction with the board

Returning to the main menu and beginning a completely new match resets the player, draw, and AI counters to zero.

Track the Match Score

The scoreboard contains three separate values:

• You: Number of rounds won by the player
• Draw: Number of rounds ending without a winner
• AI: Number of rounds won by the computer

The counters update immediately after each completed round.

This allows players to create an informal challenge, such as trying to win more rounds than the AI before returning to the main menu.

Restart a Round

The Restart button clears the current board and begins a fresh round.

Restarting stops active gameplay coroutines, hides the result panel, removes the winning line, clears every symbol, and gives the first move back to the player.

The session score remains unchanged when using Restart.

Return to the Main Menu

The Home button returns the player to the main menu.

Active coroutines are stopped, and the gameplay, result, and difficulty panels are hidden. The next time Play Against AI is selected, a new session begins with all score counters reset.