Show HN: Tic-Tac-Word – Can you beat yourself in this tic-tac-toe word game?

Show HN: Tic-Tac-Word – Can you beat yourself in this tic-tac-toe word game?(tictacword.com)

6 points by onion92 65 days ago | 4 comments

I wondered how this would work as a two-player game.

Like, I try for the center square, but fail to identify the word in four guesses. [Then maybe that square automatically goes to my opponent?] If they get another square, they'll have two in a row, and I've got to go for the block... (But if they don't solve one of the squares, then I've got a chance at going for two-in-a-row...)

To keep this a single-player game, maybe you'd have to compete against an automated opponent? (Maybe they get X's and Os's on their turn like a normal Tic-Tac-Toe game, but you only get to block them by solving the Wordle-like puzzle in a square? Or maybe they have to guess too...)

gs17 65 days ago | |

I think if the AI opponent plays their X/O directly on their turn, they have to be dumb enough to not make it too hard (even a slightly smart bot will probably force a tie most of the time, you might not be able to ever miss a tile), and that doesn't feel like it adds much fun.

Taking turns guessing could be interesting though. I wonder how the game theory of guessing works out there.

gs17 65 days ago |

I like it, but I think it could be more interesting if the tiles interact more with each other, e.g. if you finish a tile (right or wrong) it reveals a letter (or to not be as strong, maybe it reveals a non-letter?) in another unsolved tile. It would make it a little easier, but it feels more interesting to me.

I'd also like to see the result at the end have a number on each square for how many guesses it took (yeah, the copied emoji version can't have that AND be a green square, but maybe numbers would work instead?).

code-less 65 days ago |

very entertaining