tic tac toe comes alive in 3D
4x4x4 tic tac toe can be played on a sheet of paper or on a computer. But 2D projections make play annoying and learning difficult. A physical board allows you to see every line, freeing you to focus on the game, not the visualization. There are many physical boards available, getting one or making your own can be a great way to learn more about the game. Here are a few places to start:
Hey! Play! board (only has 24/128 pieces) at Home Depot and Walmart
XNO LLC developed a physical electronic board, called 4Play, that it marketed on Kickstarter. That campaign failed, but future iterations are being considered. More details about the previous design are below.
The 4Play board designed by XNO LLC
3D sketch of current 4Play design
High-level circuit diagram for the motherboard
how it works
From the outside, 4Play is a relatively simple device. It's composed of a plastic case that houses some circuit boards and batteries. As with many designs, this simplicity was the product of many redesigns and prototypes, and is one of the key features of the device. Including batteries, 4Play only includes 5 unique components; this simplicity makes both assembly and maintenance easier. The device can be assembled from scratch in a few minutes by anyone with a screwdriver. Since this process is entirely reversible, repair also takes just a few minutes and a screwdriver—a huge improvement over your other electronic devices.
The parts themselves aren't too complicated either. As you can see in the 3D mockup on the left, the 16 vertical circuit boards (columns) each have a button on top and 4 LEDs on them to display the game board. The LEDs are tiny RBG LEDs that can display 7 distinct colors. The buttons allow for interaction with the board, like choosing moves and selecting between menus. All of these columns are mounted on the motherboard. This larger horizontal circuit board is the backbone of the device. It connects and supports the columns and batteries, and contains the power switch and selector button. It regulates voltage coming from the batteries and houses the processor that controls all of the input and output to and from the device. A sketch of this circuit is shown to the left. Note that all of the columns are entirely modular, able to be swapped in and out in any order. These simple designs make manufacturing and testing significantly more straightforward than they could otherwise be.
But how does the board connect to your iPhone? The same processor that handles all input and output data for the device is also a Bluetooth® transceiver. Since all the data is in the same place, it's easy to communicate information about your moves (or even the state of your device) to your iPhone, and take in data about another player's moves or even (potentially) firmware updates cleanly and remotely. This design allows for features like cloud-based single- and multi-player games, live gameplay tips, or strategy analysis to be implemented without adding complexity to the product.