I looked for a great Tic-Tac-Toe variant, and managed to stumble across it, thanks to the famous article on Math with Bad Drawings.

Considering the ubiquity of regular Tic-Tac-Toe, it is curious that few have thought to take their game to the next level. In this article, we will explore the next step in n-in-a-row play, larger boards and larger row requirements.

Some years back, I challenged a friend to a long (100-game) series to determine who would be the World Champion Tic-Tac-Toe player. What started as a jest developed into a serious interest into the world of n-in-a-row games. In these posts, I over-analyze simple things, show the depth of the better games, and try to instill an interest in them.

I like to think of myself as a precise person, but things fall through the cracks.

I've spent time around computers and/or programming, and sometimes I hear people say things to the effect that what I do is "complicated" or "over [their] head". What that implies to me is "I could never do that". In this article, I intend to show that not only could you do that, you may already be thinking or doing things that overlap with the programming field.