Qubic

Above is a two-dimensional representation of the Qubic board. The game was marketed with the board as a vertical three-dimensional tower. The game commences with the board empty of counters.

Alternate Names

3D Tic Tac Toe, 4x4x4 Tic Tac Toe. Similar versions of this game in which the set up is to place the counters on a grid of four by four pegs, which can be stacked four counters high have been sold under the names Score Four (Funtastic, 1968), and Connect Four Advanced (Hasbro).

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A Qubic board and (up to) thirty-two each of black and white counters are required for play. If three are playing, each will require twenty-one of a distinctive colored counter. A qubic board is the equivalent of four 4x4 grids stacked upon one another or a two-dimensional representation of this, as here. The original marketed version of Qubic was the stacked tower version which may be a little difficult to imitate with household materials. I believe playing with the four grids side side by, as shown above, gives the game an added dimension of play (ironically, by reducing a dimension). Each of the four levels of the board is called a plane.

Another way of illustrating the three-dimensional game board in two dimensions.

History

Qubic was originally published by Parker Brothers in 1953. It was weakly solved by Patashnik in 1980, who proved it to be a first player win, and then strongly solved by Allis in 1994.

Objective

The first player to place four counters in a row wins the game. This four-counter row may all be on one plane that may be in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal; or it may be in a pillar or diagonal that goes through all four planes. Several examples of black winning are marked with a blue line in the illustrations below.

Vertical Row on One Plane

Horizontal Row on One Plane

Diagonal row on one plane.

Columnar Row on the Same Cell on Four Planes.

Columnar row across four columns on four planes.

Columnar row across four columns and four rows on four planes. This formations is probably the hardest to recognize when playing.

Play

The game commences with the board empty of counters. Play is exactly as in Tic Tac Toe, and two or three players alternate turns placing one counter of their own color at any vacant cell on the board.

Strategy

Plan ahead and try to have potential rows of four in several different places. A row of four that crosses four planes will be harder for your opponent to detect than a row of four on a single plane. Diagonal rows on four planes are probably the hardest formation for most players to recognize, and thus this is a good one to try and build and also one to watch out for from the opponent. Of the six illustrations that show black winning above, the last one is usually the most difficult for most players to recognize, especially after several counters are on the board.

There are a total of seventy-six locations on the board where a winning row can be formed.

Variations

Sources

  1. Sackson, Sid and Klutz Press. The Book of Classic Board Games. Klutz Press, Palo Alto, CA. 1991. ISBN 0-932592-94-5