During the Fall 2020, Spring 2021 school year, Valparaiso University’s math club (of which I was vice president) worked on research into the tic-tac-toe variant ultimate-tic-tac-toe. I had already written a python program for basic command line gameplay, but I also wanted to write a faster implementation for potential deep learning research purposes. We did not end up with any super exciting results, but it was still a fun project to work on.

Source Code

The source code for this project is available on GitHub.

Demo

> python3 ultimatetictactoe.py
Player 1 name:   Eric
Player 2 name:   Player 2

It's Eric's turn!
The board looks like this:
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
You may go anywhere.
What move would you like to make?
(format moves like: (x,y)(x,y). The origin is the top left, so (1,1)(1,1) is the top left corner.
Your move:    (2,2)(1,1)

It's Player 2's turn!
The board looks like this:
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮X| | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
You must go in grid number (1, 1).
What move would you like to make?
(format moves like: (x,y)(x,y). The origin is the top left, so (1,1)(1,1) is the top left corner.
Your move:    (1,1)(3,3)

It's Eric's turn!
The board looks like this:
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | |O▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮X| | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
You must go in grid number (3, 3).
What move would you like to make?
(format moves like: (x,y)(x,y). The origin is the top left, so (1,1)(1,1) is the top left corner.
Your move:    (3,3)(2,1)

It's Player 2's turn!
The board looks like this:
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | |O▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮X| | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮X| |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
You must go in grid number (2, 1).
What move would you like to make?
(format moves like: (x,y)(x,y). The origin is the top left, so (1,1)(1,1) is the top left corner.
Your move:    (2,1)(2,2)

It's Eric's turn!
The board looks like this:
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | |O▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮X| | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 |O| ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮X| |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
You must go in grid number (2, 2).
What move would you like to make?
(format moves like: (x,y)(x,y). The origin is the top left, so (1,1)(1,1) is the top left corner.
Your move:    (2,2)(1,3)

It's Player 2's turn!
The board looks like this:
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | |O▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮X| |X▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 |O| ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮X| |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
You must go in grid number (1, 3).
What move would you like to make?
(format moves like: (x,y)(x,y). The origin is the top left, so (1,1)(1,1) is the top left corner.
Your move:    (1,3)(2,2)

It's Eric's turn!
The board looks like this:
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ |O|
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | |O▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮X| |X▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 |O| ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮X| |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
You must go in grid number (2, 2).
What move would you like to make?
(format moves like: (x,y)(x,y). The origin is the top left, so (1,1)(1,1) is the top left corner.
Your move:    (2,2)(1,2)

It's Player 2's turn!
The board looks like this:
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ |O|
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | |O▮ | | ▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮X|X|X▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 |O| ▮X|X|X▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮X|X|X▮ | |
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮X| |
-+-+-▮-+-+-▮-+-+-
 | | ▮ | | ▮ | |