Tic-Tac-Toe on Designs

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Danziger, Peter, Huggan, Melissa A., Malik, Rehan, Marbach, Trent G.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Danziger, Peter
Huggan, Melissa A.
Malik, Rehan
Marbach, Trent G.
author_facet Danziger, Peter
Huggan, Melissa A.
Malik, Rehan
Marbach, Trent G.
contents We consider playing the game of Tic-Tac-Toe on block designs BIBD($v, k, λ$) and transversal designs TD($k, n$). Players take turns choosing points and the first player to complete a block wins the game. We show that triple systems, BIBD($v, 3, λ$), are a first player win if and only if $v \geq 5$. Further, we show that for $k = 2, 3$, TD($k, n$) is a first player win if and only if $n \geq k$. We also consider a weak version of the game, called Maker-Breaker, in which the second player wins if they can stop the first player from winning. In this case, we adapt known bounds for when either the first or second player can win on BIBD($v, k, 1$) and TD($k, n$), and show that for Maker-Breaker, BIBD($v, 4, 1$) is a first player win if and only if $v \geq 16$. We show that TD($4, 4$) is a second player win, and so the second player can force a draw in the regular game by playing the same strategy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_11118
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tic-Tac-Toe on Designs
Danziger, Peter
Huggan, Melissa A.
Malik, Rehan
Marbach, Trent G.
Combinatorics
05B05
We consider playing the game of Tic-Tac-Toe on block designs BIBD($v, k, λ$) and transversal designs TD($k, n$). Players take turns choosing points and the first player to complete a block wins the game. We show that triple systems, BIBD($v, 3, λ$), are a first player win if and only if $v \geq 5$. Further, we show that for $k = 2, 3$, TD($k, n$) is a first player win if and only if $n \geq k$. We also consider a weak version of the game, called Maker-Breaker, in which the second player wins if they can stop the first player from winning. In this case, we adapt known bounds for when either the first or second player can win on BIBD($v, k, 1$) and TD($k, n$), and show that for Maker-Breaker, BIBD($v, 4, 1$) is a first player win if and only if $v \geq 16$. We show that TD($4, 4$) is a second player win, and so the second player can force a draw in the regular game by playing the same strategy.
title Tic-Tac-Toe on Designs
topic Combinatorics
05B05
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.11118