Tic Tac Toe Game Project using Python

Tic tac toe is a very popular game and we are going to implement the tic tac toe game using Python programming. Let us examine some of the rules of the game:-

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  1. Play occurs on a 3 by 3 grid of 9 squares.
  2. Two players take turns marking empty squares, the first marking X’s, the second O’s.
  3. A row is any three squares on the grid, adjacent diagonally, vertically or horizontally.
  4. If one player places three of the same marks in a row, the player wins.
  5. If the spaces are all filled and there is no winner, the game ends in a draw.

To begin the implementation in Python, make sure you have the following tutorials covered:-

Since the game will be you vs the computer, the computer will be using the random function in Python to get the next move.

Code for Tic Tac Toe Game Project using Python

# Tic Tac Toe

import random

def drawBoard(board):
    # This function prints out the board that it was passed.

    # "board" is a list of 10 strings representing the board (ignore index 0)
    print('   |   |')
    print(' ' + board[7] + ' | ' + board[8] + ' | ' + board[9])
    print('   |   |')
    print('-----------')
    print('   |   |')
    print(' ' + board[4] + ' | ' + board[5] + ' | ' + board[6])
    print('   |   |')
    print('-----------')
    print('   |   |')
    print(' ' + board[1] + ' | ' + board[2] + ' | ' + board[3])
    print('   |   |')

def inputPlayerLetter():
    # Lets the player type which letter they want to be.
    # Returns a list with the player's letter as the first item, and the computer's letter as the second.
    letter = ''
    while not (letter == 'X' or letter == 'O'):
        print('Do you want to be X or O?')
        letter = input().upper()

    # the first element in the tuple is the player's letter, the second is the computer's letter.
    if letter == 'X':
        return ['X', 'O']
    else:
        return ['O', 'X']

def whoGoesFirst():
    # Randomly choose the player who goes first.
    if random.randint(0, 1) == 0:
        return 'computer'
    else:
        return 'player'

def playAgain():
    # This function returns True if the player wants to play again, otherwise it returns False.
    print('Do you want to play again? (yes or no)')
    return input().lower().startswith('y')

def makeMove(board, letter, move):
    board[move] = letter

def isWinner(bo, le):
    # Given a board and a player's letter, this function returns True if that player has won.
    # We use bo instead of board and le instead of letter so we don't have to type as much.
    return ((bo[7] == le and bo[8] == le and bo[9] == le) or # across the top
    (bo[4] == le and bo[5] == le and bo[6] == le) or # across the middle
    (bo[1] == le and bo[2] == le and bo[3] == le) or # across the bottom
    (bo[7] == le and bo[4] == le and bo[1] == le) or # down the left side
    (bo[8] == le and bo[5] == le and bo[2] == le) or # down the middle
    (bo[9] == le and bo[6] == le and bo[3] == le) or # down the right side
    (bo[7] == le and bo[5] == le and bo[3] == le) or # diagonal
    (bo[9] == le and bo[5] == le and bo[1] == le)) # diagonal

def getBoardCopy(board):
    # Make a duplicate of the board list and return it the duplicate.
    dupeBoard = []

    for i in board:
        dupeBoard.append(i)

    return dupeBoard

def isSpaceFree(board, move):
    # Return true if the passed move is free on the passed board.
    return board[move] == ' '

def getPlayerMove(board):
    # Let the player type in his move.
    move = ' '
    while move not in '1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9'.split() or not isSpaceFree(board, int(move)):
        print('What is your next move? (1-9)')
        move = input()
    return int(move)

def chooseRandomMoveFromList(board, movesList):
    # Returns a valid move from the passed list on the passed board.
    # Returns None if there is no valid move.
    possibleMoves = []
    for i in movesList:
        if isSpaceFree(board, i):
            possibleMoves.append(i)

    if len(possibleMoves) != 0:
        return random.choice(possibleMoves)
    else:
        return None

def getComputerMove(board, computerLetter):
    # Given a board and the computer's letter, determine where to move and return that move.
    if computerLetter == 'X':
        playerLetter = 'O'
    else:
        playerLetter = 'X'

    # Here is our algorithm for our Tic Tac Toe AI:
    # First, check if we can win in the next move
    for i in range(1, 10):
        copy = getBoardCopy(board)
        if isSpaceFree(copy, i):
            makeMove(copy, computerLetter, i)
            if isWinner(copy, computerLetter):
                return i

    # Check if the player could win on his next move, and block them.
    for i in range(1, 10):
        copy = getBoardCopy(board)
        if isSpaceFree(copy, i):
            makeMove(copy, playerLetter, i)
            if isWinner(copy, playerLetter):
                return i

    # Try to take one of the corners, if they are free.
    move = chooseRandomMoveFromList(board, [1, 3, 7, 9])
    if move != None:
        return move

    # Try to take the center, if it is free.
    if isSpaceFree(board, 5):
        return 5

    # Move on one of the sides.
    return chooseRandomMoveFromList(board, [2, 4, 6, 8])

def isBoardFull(board):
    # Return True if every space on the board has been taken. Otherwise return False.
    for i in range(1, 10):
        if isSpaceFree(board, i):
            return False
    return True


print('Welcome to Tic Tac Toe!')

while True:
    # Reset the board
    theBoard = [' '] * 10
    playerLetter, computerLetter = inputPlayerLetter()
    turn = whoGoesFirst()
    print('The ' + turn + ' will go first.')
    gameIsPlaying = True

    while gameIsPlaying:
        if turn == 'player':
            # Player's turn.
            drawBoard(theBoard)
            move = getPlayerMove(theBoard)
            makeMove(theBoard, playerLetter, move)

            if isWinner(theBoard, playerLetter):
                drawBoard(theBoard)
                print('Hooray! You have won the game!')
                gameIsPlaying = False
            else:
                if isBoardFull(theBoard):
                    drawBoard(theBoard)
                    print('The game is a tie!')
                    break
                else:
                    turn = 'computer'

        else:
            # Computer's turn.
            move = getComputerMove(theBoard, computerLetter)
            makeMove(theBoard, computerLetter, move)

            if isWinner(theBoard, computerLetter):
                drawBoard(theBoard)
                print('The computer has beaten you! You lose.')
                gameIsPlaying = False
            else:
                if isBoardFull(theBoard):
                    drawBoard(theBoard)
                    print('The game is a tie!')
                    break
                else:
                    turn = 'player'

    if not playAgain():
        break

The output of the above program is as below:-

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