About TicTacWhat

What is TicTacWhat?

TicTacWhat is a full-featured tic-tac-toe platform where you can play against friends or an AI opponent — with a twist. Beyond classic tic-tac-toe, the game offers three alternative modes that inject randomness, mystery, and chaos into every match. No two games play the same way twice.

Game Modes

🎯 Normal

Classic tic-tac-toe. X goes first, players alternate turns. First to get three in a row wins. A full board with no winner is a draw. Perfect for a quick, clean match.

💥 Chaos Mode

After each turn, the server randomly decides whether the next player gets skipped. Skips can chain — both players might get skipped multiple times in a row. You'll see a notification when skips happen, and the total skip counts per player are tracked throughout the game.

• Mild: 25% chance of a skip after each turn
• Moderate: 50% chance of a skip after each turn
• Mayhem: 80% chance — complete bedlam

Skip totals for each player are shown at the end of the game.

🔀 Switcheroo

Before you pick a cell, fate decides your symbol for the turn. If fate swapped you, you'll see a notification — then you choose where to place your opponent's symbol instead of your own. No surprises after the fact; the twist is revealed upfront.

• Mild: 25% chance of being swapped each turn
• Moderate: 50% chance of being swapped each turn
• Mayhem: 80% chance — expect to play your opponent's symbol most turns

🗡️ Betrayal

Before the game starts, a number of squares are secretly chosen as betrayal squares. You won't know which ones they are. If you place your piece on a betrayal square, your piece is immediately swapped to your opponent's symbol — turning your move against you.

Choose how many betrayal squares are hidden on the board:

• Just One: 1 hidden betrayal square
• A Couple: 2 hidden betrayal squares
• Mayhem: 4 hidden betrayal squares

You'll be told how many betrayal squares exist — but not where they are. Move carefully.

🌹 Romeo & Juliet

Like Betrayal — but the poison squares are visible. You can see exactly where danger lurks. Do you play around them, or dare fate by venturing close? Landing on a poison square still swaps your piece to your opponent's symbol.

• Just One: 1 visible poison square
• A Couple: 2 visible poison squares
• Mayhem: 4 visible poison squares — nearly every corner of the board is compromised

The poison squares are marked with ☠ on the board. Step carefully — or lead your opponent into them.

🌌 Chongus Mode

Chongus Mode is an optional layer you can add to any game mode. Instead of a plain 3×3 board, each of the nine main squares becomes its own 3×3 sub-board. To claim a main square, you must first win the sub-board inside it — then use claimed squares to get three in a row on the main grid.

How it works:

• Tap a main square to zoom in to that sub-board and play your move there
• After each move the board zooms back out so the other player can choose their sub-board
• A mini-map in the corner shows the full main grid state while you're zoomed in
• If a sub-board fills up with no winner, it's a draw — that main square stays unclaimed
• Win three claimed main squares in a row to win the game

All the mode twists carry through into each sub-board. In Betrayal + Chongus, betrayal squares lurk inside every sub-board. In Romeo & Juliet + Chongus, poison squares are revealed when you zoom in. Switcheroo and Chaos skips apply to each individual move just as they do in the base mode.

Toggle it on from the Chongus Mode card on the game setup screen — it sits right above the Start button.

Pass & Play (Same Screen)

No second device needed. Choose Same Screen from the Play screen and enter two player names — X and O are assigned randomly. Pass the phone or tablet back and forth after each move. All game modes are available in same-screen play.

• An Undo button lets you take back the last move if someone taps the wrong cell
• No account required — guests can play same-screen too
• X and O are randomly assigned so neither player always goes first

Playing with Friends

• Create a profile and search for friends by email address or phone number (exact match required — ask your friend what they registered with)
• Send a friend request; they can accept or decline
• If someone declines your request, they must re-initiate — you can't re-send to them
• Once friends, challenge them to any game mode from the Play screen
• Multiplayer games use live polling — the board updates automatically when your opponent moves
• Pause a game at any time and resume later from your Paused Games list
• View your full game history together from the History page

Playing vs Computer

The AI opponent uses a minimax algorithm with alpha-beta pruning — it plays optimally in Normal mode and will not make a mistake if one exists. In Chaos, Betrayal, and Switcheroo modes, the same randomness rules apply to the AI as to you. Even a perfect strategy can be undone by a betrayal square or a well-timed skip.

The AI always plays as O. X always goes first.

Game History

Every completed game is saved to your history. You can view all your games, or filter by a specific friend. The history shows:

• The final board state with the winning line highlighted in green
• In Chaos Mode: how many times each player was skipped
• In Betrayal and Switcheroo: the move log annotates every swap so you can see exactly where fate intervened

Accounts & Profiles

• Usernames are at least 5 characters by default — shorter usernames are available via admin-generated invite codes
• Set your first and last name, email address, phone number (with international country code selection), and a profile picture (up to 5 MB)
• Phone numbers are stored in E.164 format internally — enter yours in whatever format you're comfortable with and the app normalizes it
• Your email and phone are used for friend discovery — they're how other players find you

Playing as a Guest

No account needed to play vs the computer — just jump in and try the modes. Guest games are not saved to any history and you can't challenge friends without an account.