Tic-Tac-Tow

In a short video, I saw a variant of the classic tic-tac-toe in which a playing field with 5x5 squares is used. A 3x3 grid can be moved, giving this variant a whole new twist. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the rules anywhere. However, with a little trial and error, they are obvious:

• the players take turns placing the pieces
• (own) pieces may be moved, even if not all 4 pieces have been placed yet
• pieces may only be placed within the grid
• as an alternative to placing the pieces, you can move the grid
• you may not move the grid in such a way that the opponent's previous move is cancelled
• the winner is the first player to have 3 stones in a row within the grid

As the construction of the playing field and the stones is quite trivial, I would like to give you a few ideas on how to make it: The drawing is designed to create a 16 x 16 cm playing field. All parts can then be produced with a 4 mm milling cutter. As the game board has quite a few pockets, it is helpful to have as large a diameter as possible. Alternatively, you can also scale the drawing to 125% or 150% and then use a 5mm or 6mm cutter respectively. The board then has a side length of 20 or 24 cm.

The following strategy has proven to be useful for milling the pockets: first mill a circular pocket. In Estlcam you can easily select this by using the 'Create circle centre' option. The contour is then milled as a cut-out. Only the 'ears' are then created. Once you have created these two milling paths, you can duplicate them using 'Tiles'.

The drawing contains two options for producing the 'grid': you can simply mill the grid as a whole. You just have to make sure that the part in the centre is defined as a cut-out and is milled first. However, there is also the option of milling four 'strips' and then inserting them into each other (see the graphic Tic-Tac-Tow_CAD). In this case, make sure that the recesses with the depth corresponding to half the material thickness are milled first. This option is also available for the stones (crosses).