Nine Holes is one of the simplest of all the three-in-a-row games. Very young children can learn to play it. I read in a book on African games that four-year-olds in some parts of Africa like to play games similar to Nine Holes. They learn to take turns and to think about their moves. They also learn that there is no point in getting upset when they lose a game. Nine Holes is a good introduction to Tic-Tac-Toe and other three-in-a-row games.
Long before anyone had heard of Tic-Tac-Toe, people were playing Nine Holes. It was a favorite among the boys who herded sheep and cattle. While the animals were feeding in the pastures, two boys would agree to draw the game board on the ground. They would dig three rows of holes, three holes in each row. They would gather three stones of one kind and three of another kind, and be ready to play.
The seventeenth-century English poet Michael Drayton described the scene:
The unhappy wags, which let their cattle stray, fit Nine Holes on the heath whilst they together play.
Some of these “unhappy wags” invented strange rules for the game. On the Salisbury Plain, in southern England, the counters were not stones, but wooden pegs stuck into the earth. The players had to get down on the ground and pull out the pegs with their teeth!
In many old English churches one can find sets of holes or lines for three-in-a-row games. Centuries ago the few boys who were lucky enough to go to school in England usually attended church schools. The boring lessons seemed to go on forever, and the boys were often tempted to sneak in a quick game of Nine Holes.
Even grown-ups were guilty of playing games when they should have been attending to the Sunday sermon. An English court record for the year 1699 tells of two men who were punished for playing Nine Holes during church services.
The religious beliefs of the New England colonists did not permit gambling or games played with dice or cards. Children who spent time in play of any kind were warned: “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.” Still, both grownups and children in the New England colonies did play Nine Holes, as well as more complicated three-in-a-row games like Nine Men’s Morris and Twelve Men’s Morris, in which each player had either nine or twelve counters.
Children in other countries play games that have the same rules as Nine Holes, but different names. Here are some of them:
Country |
Game Names |
Arabic-speaking countries |
Dris ath-tha-latha |
Germany |
Nulochen and San-noku-narabe |
The Netherlands |
Dreisticken |
Nigeria |
Akidada |
• Sheet of unlined paper, at least 8 inches (20 cm) square
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Colored markers or crayons
• Scissors
• Glue
• Piece of cardboard, at least 9 inches (22.5 cm) square
• Three counters for each player, of two different kinds (beans, buttons, checkers, or coins)
Figure 1
1. On the sheet of paper, draw a square that measures 6 inches (15 cm) on each side.
2. Draw lines that connect the mid-points, or middles, of the opposite sides.
3. Use a marker or crayon to mark the nine points where the lines meet, as shown in the diagram. Figure 1
4. Glue the paper to the cardboard and decorate your game board. You will want to use it over and over again.
The game is played on the nine points where the lines intersect. The two players take turns going first. We will call the counters white and black, although they may be other colors. Player One places a white counter on any point. Then Player Two places a black counter on any point. They take turns, until each player has placed all three counters on the game board. After that, the players take turns moving their counters around on the game board. On each turn, a player moves one of his or her own counters to any empty point on the board.
Each player tries to make a row of three counters of one color, and to block the other player from making a row of three. There are six different ways to make a row: three across, and three up and down. Figure 2
The winner is the first player to make an unbroken row of three across or up and down. If neither player makes a row, the game is a draw. The players can decide to call the game a draw at any time. If both players are careful, a game can go on for a long time.
The players try to move their counters so that they have two different ways to make a row on their next move. This is called a trap. Figure 3
a. White has set a trap
b. Black can block only one row
c. White makes a row and wins the game
Can you find a different way to set a trap?
Where should the first player start? Is it easier for Player One to win the game than for Player Two?
Imagine how the game of Nine Holes might have become Tic-Tac-Toe. It could have happened in an English schoolroom. The schoolmaster had given the students several long addition exercises to work out on their slates. While the master was calling on the children on the front bench, a boy in the back nudged the student next to him.
Figure 2
Figure 3
“Got a knife to cut lines in the bench for Nine Holes?”
“No. But we can draw the lines on my slate.”
They soon had a lively game going, with pebbles and pieces of chalk as playing pieces.
Suddenly they heard the school-master call out their names. Startled, they let the buttons and chalk clatter to the floor. The master gave them 10 more sums as punishment for playing games in class.
The next morning one of the boys had a wonderful idea. They could make marks on the slate instead of moving buttons and pebbles. One player could mark O’s (or noughts, as they say in England) and the other could mark X’s (or crosses). And the marks would go in the spaces, not on the points of the game board. As soon as the school-master had turned his back, they tried out the new game on a board with nine spaces, like this. Figure 4 Before the end of the day, the whole class was playing Noughts and Crosses. That’s the name they gave Tic-Tac-Toe in England. Soon the game had spread all over England.
Figure 4
