In this article, I am showing you how to create a very simple game of Tic-Tac-Toe in a C# console application.
Introduction
Tic-Tac-Toe is a very simple two player game. So only two players can play at a time. This game is also known as Noughts and Crosses or Xs and Os game. One player plays with X and the other player plays with O. In this game we have a board consisting of a 3X3 grid. The number of grids may be increased.
The Tic-Tac-Toe board looks like:
![Tic Tac Toe in C#]()
Game Rules
- Traditionally the first player plays with "X". So you can decide who wants to go "X" and who wants go with "O".
- Only one player can play at a time.
- If any of the players have filled a square then the other player and the same player cannot override that square.
- There are only two conditions that may be match will be draw or may be win.
- The player that succeeds in placing three respective mark (X or O) in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row wins the game.
Winning condition
Whoever places three respective marks (X or O) horizontally vertically or diagonally will be the winner.
The code for the game is as follows:
using System;
using System.Threading;
namespace TIC_TAC_TOE
{
class Program
{
//making array and
//by default I am providing 0-9 where no use of zero
static char[] arr = { '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9' };
static int player = 1; //By default player 1 is set
static int choice; //This holds the choice at which position user want to mark
// The flag variable checks who has won if it's value is 1 then someone has won the match
//if -1 then Match has Draw if 0 then match is still running
static int flag = 0;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
do
{
Console.Clear();// whenever loop will be again start then screen will be clear
Console.WriteLine("Player1:X and Player2:O");
Console.WriteLine("\n");
if (player % 2 == 0)//checking the chance of the player
{
Console.WriteLine("Player 2 Chance");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Player 1 Chance");
}
Console.WriteLine("\n");
Board();// calling the board Function
choice = int.Parse(Console.ReadLine());//Taking users choice
// checking that position where user want to run is marked (with X or O) or not
if (arr[choice] != 'X' && arr[choice] != 'O')
{
if (player % 2 == 0) //if chance is of player 2 then mark O else mark X
{
arr[choice] = 'O';
player++;
}
else
{
arr[choice] = 'X';
player++;
}
}
else
//If there is any possition where user want to run
//and that is already marked then show message and load board again
{
Console.WriteLine("Sorry the row {0} is already marked with {1}", choice, arr[choice]);
Console.WriteLine("\n");
Console.WriteLine("Please wait 2 second board is loading again.....");
Thread.Sleep(2000);
}
flag = CheckWin();// calling of check win
}
while (flag != 1 && flag != -1);
// This loop will be run until all cell of the grid is not marked
//with X and O or some player is not win
Console.Clear();// clearing the console
Board();// getting filled board again
if (flag == 1)
// if flag value is 1 then someone has win or
//means who played marked last time which has win
{
Console.WriteLine("Player {0} has won", (player % 2) + 1);
}
else// if flag value is -1 the match will be draw and no one is winner
{
Console.WriteLine("Draw");
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
// Board method which creats board
private static void Board()
{
Console.WriteLine(" | | ");
Console.WriteLine(" {0} | {1} | {2}", arr[1], arr[2], arr[3]);
Console.WriteLine("_____|_____|_____ ");
Console.WriteLine(" | | ");
Console.WriteLine(" {0} | {1} | {2}", arr[4], arr[5], arr[6]);
Console.WriteLine("_____|_____|_____ ");
Console.WriteLine(" | | ");
Console.WriteLine(" {0} | {1} | {2}", arr[7], arr[8], arr[9]);
Console.WriteLine(" | | ");
}
//Checking that any player has won or not
private static int CheckWin()
{
#region Horzontal Winning Condtion
//Winning Condition For First Row
if (arr[1] == arr[2] && arr[2] == arr[3])
{
return 1;
}
//Winning Condition For Second Row
else if (arr[4] == arr[5] && arr[5] == arr[6])
{
return 1;
}
//Winning Condition For Third Row
else if (arr[6] == arr[7] && arr[7] == arr[8])
{
return 1;
}
#endregion
#region vertical Winning Condtion
//Winning Condition For First Column
else if (arr[1] == arr[4] && arr[4] == arr[7])
{
return 1;
}
//Winning Condition For Second Column
else if (arr[2] == arr[5] && arr[5] == arr[8])
{
return 1;
}
//Winning Condition For Third Column
else if (arr[3] == arr[6] && arr[6] == arr[9])
{
return 1;
}
#endregion
#region Diagonal Winning Condition
else if (arr[1] == arr[5] && arr[5] == arr[9])
{
return 1;
}
else if (arr[3] == arr[5] && arr[5] == arr[7])
{
return 1;
}
#endregion
#region Checking For Draw
// If all the cells or values filled with X or O then any player has won the match
else if (arr[1] != '1' && arr[2] != '2' && arr[3] != '3' && arr[4] != '4' && arr[5] != '5' && arr[6] != '6' && arr[7] != '7' && arr[8] != '8' && arr[9] != '9')
{
return -1;
}
#endregion
else
{
return 0;
}
}
}
}
Output
- Starting game screen
![]()
- If a player has marked a place that is already marked with O or X then the output will be like:
![]()
- If the game is a draw or all places are filled with Xs and Os and no winning condition is satisfied then the output will be like:
![]()
- I Player 1 wins then the output will be:
![]()
- If Player 2 wins then the output will be:
![]()