One of the most classic games that one learns how
to play is the standard game of Tic-Tac-Toe.
I doubt that I really need to explain how to play
this game to all of you here, because I would think that those of you who are
at least kindergarten age know how the game is played. However, since I am looking to post as much
information in this blog as I can, I’ll explain the mechanics behind how the
game is played.
You have a grid of nine empty squares, such as the
one that is displayed below.
In a classic game of Tic-Tac-Toe, you have two
players. One represents the letter X,
while the other one represents the O. The
players would decide who among them would begin the game first (in my
household, the X’s always went first, but that was just how we ended up playing
it), and the ultimate endgame was getting three of your symbols in a row in one
of three ways...horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Depending on how competitive the other person
was, a game of Tic-Tac-Toe could range in competitiveness from “easy peasy” to “are
you kidding me?”. Either way, I think
for most of us, Tic-Tac-Toe introduced millions of children to their first
game, as well as their first taste of healthy competition.
(Well, unless your opponent tried to drown you in
their cereal bowl filled with Corn Flakes and 2% milk because you beat them,
that is.)
But here’s the thing about Tic-Tac-Toe. It’s entertaining for all of two minutes, but
after a while, it gets to be stale and boring.
I mean, yes, the game show “Hollywood Squares” made Tic-Tac-Toe fun by
having cash prizes, and featuring stars like Paul Lynde, Jim J. Bullock, and
Whoopi Goldberg in the center square, but for those of us who weren’t
contestants on the show, we were stuck playing the game of Tic-Tac-Toe the
old-fashioned (and boring) way.
At least that was the case until 1969.
1969 was the year that the ordinary game of
Tic-Tac-Toe received a three dimensional makeover, courtesy of a little toy
company known as Ideal (which unfortunately is now defunct). Imagine a Tic-Tac-Toe board that is larger
than life itself (at least it is to a child anyway). Sounds impressive right? Now imagine being armed with a handful of
beanbags, tossing it at the gigantic Tic-Tac-Toe board in hopes of flipping
over squares from blank spaces to X’s and O’s?
It would certainly make playing the game of Tic-Tac-Toe not only more
fun to play, but more strategic as well.
Well, thanks to the good people of Ideal Toys, and
the design team of Hank Kramer, Larry Reiner, and Walter Moe, the game “Toss
Across” was born.
And “Toss Across” is the blog topic for
today! But, I think you have already
guessed that by now, right? J
I have such fond, fond memories of “Toss Across”. The first time I played “Toss Across” was
when I was seven. I don’t know how
elementary school classrooms work nowadays, but during the 1988/89 school year,
there were a selection of board games, toys, and books readily available for
the children to play with. There was a
reason why the toys were there in the first place. Whenever it rained, the school playground was
a rather terrible place to be. Without
any covered playground equipment or any sort of shelter outside, we pretty much
had to stay indoors during recess or our lunch hour, especially if there were
weather advisories or torrential downpours.
Those toys prevented us from being completely bored out of our minds.
Anyway, our second grade classroom teacher, Miss
Johnson, had dozens of games that we could play with. There was “Battleship”, “Clue”, jigsaw
puzzles, and various crayons and colouring books. But there was one game that was always the
most popular.
That game was “Toss Across”.
For the most part, my classmates and I followed
the rules of the game, as well as the rules of the teacher in playing the game
(although the only real rule the teacher enforced was the one where we couldn’t
throw the beanbags at each other). The
game of “Toss Across” worked exactly the same as Tic-Tac-Toe. You had to use your beanbags to get either
three X’s or three O’s in a row. The
first person to achieve this goal won the game.
However, “Toss Across” had a bit of a twist to it,
which made the game much more challenging to win. Mind you, that challenge depended on how
competitive your opponents were.
The squares of “Toss Across” were designed in such
a way that they would flip over depending on the angle in which the beanbag was
thrown, and where the beanbag landed on the square. In the earliest versions of the game, each
square was labelled with a small X on one side of the square, and a small
circle on the other side. In order to
get the square to flip over into an X or an O, you have to aim your beanbag
carefully.
Suppose that I am the X player. If I want the square to flip over into an X,
I’d have to hit the small X on the board.
If I succeed, then the square should flip over to show and X. The opposite, of course, holds true should
your beanbag hit the circle instead.
There are six beanbags total in the game, so each person gets
three. When all six beanbags are tossed,
players can retrieve them should nobody win the game after six throws.
So “Toss Across” not only helps you tell the
difference between X’s and O’s...it also helps you develop your hand-eye
co-ordination. It’s a perfect game for
learning.
So, you think that it would be easy to win the
game, right? All I would have to do is
make sure that I can hit the small X’s in a straight line, and I could win
quickly, right?
Not necessarily.
You see, the game’s rules state that just because
the player manages to score an X on the board...it doesn’t mean that it has to
STAY that way.
That’s right!
Your opponent can sabotage your efforts by throwing a beanbag at your X,
and removing it from play! Depending on
how hard they throw the beanbag, the square can flip back to neutral, or even
to the opposite symbol!
That’s what I mean by competitive. Your opponent can undo your progress with
just a couple of throws! And that’s the
beauty of this game. The game can get
fierce with throws, and have the potential to last a very long time. I remember getting into a “Toss Across” match
with someone that lasted a grand total of sixteen minutes! It didn’t even matter that recess was only
fifteen minutes long and that the teacher threatened to put both our names on
the “Broken Rules” list. We were going
to continue playing until somebody won the game.
Unfortunately, the person I was playing against
beat me in a move that flipped over two squares simultaneously! So, not only did I lose, but my name ended up
on the “Broken Rules” list anyway! But
what a way to get into trouble! J
These days, the “Toss Across” game is distributed
by Mattel, and the design of the game is a bit different. But the rules are still exactly the same, and
I’m sure that I would still have a ball playing “Toss Across” at the age of 31
as I did back when I was seven.
And who knows?
Now that there’s no threat of getting in trouble, maybe I can have a
game last thirty-four minutes!
Anyone want to play a game with me?
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