SuperTac tips
Advanced tic-tac-toe strategy for boards bigger than 3×3
A 3×3 board is a puzzle with a known answer. Stretch it to 5×5, 8×8 or 10×10 with four or five in a row to win, and tic-tac-toe turns into a genuine strategy game — closer to Gomoku than to the version you played at school. These are the ideas that matter most once the board opens up.
The open three is the whole game
An open three is three of your marks in a row with an empty square at both ends. Your opponent can only block one end, so unless they have a threat of their own, you are winning. Everything on a big board revolves around creating open threes and preventing theirs.
A three that is blocked at one end is far weaker — it only threatens one square, and a single block kills it. Before you commit to a line, look at both ends and ask whether it can still grow.
Play for double threats, not long lines
Beginners build one impressive line and get it blocked. Strong players build overlapping shapes so that a single move completes two threats at once — a three that crosses another three, or two split pairs that share a square.
The gap shape matters too. Marks at positions 1, 2 and 4 of a line threaten the same win as 1, 2, 3, but they are much harder to read and often go unblocked for a turn longer.
Stay near the middle early
On a big board, edges and corners cut down the number of lines that can run through a square. A central square sits on a horizontal, a vertical and both diagonals; a corner square sits on far fewer. Early moves near the middle simply do more work.
That does not mean stacking everything in the centre. Spread your marks so each new one touches your existing shape while opening a fresh direction.
Tempo: who is forced to answer?
Every time you make a three, your opponent must respond. That is tempo, and it is how you build a winning position while they only defend. Chains of forcing moves let you steer them into blocking squares that happen to be useless for their own plan.
The reverse is also true: if you find yourself blocking three turns in a row, stop and look for a counter-threat. Trading a block for a threat of your own is usually better than a pure defensive move.
Watch the diagonals and the multiplayer twist
Diagonals count in SuperTac, and they are the lines players miss most because the eye scans rows and columns first. Scan diagonals deliberately every turn.
With three or more players, threats change character: someone else will often block for you, so the danger is being the player who spends every turn defending while two others build. Aim to sit one move away from a win at all times, so the other players have to worry about you.
Quick takeaways
- Create open threes; defuse theirs at the more useful end.
- Overlapping shapes beat one long line.
- Central squares belong to more winning lines — start there.
- Keep the initiative; answer a block with a threat.
- Check diagonals every single turn.