The very first traces of the game go back to Egypt, which has remnants of 3×3 game boards on roofing tiles from 1300 BCE. Other variations included the terni lapilli (three pebbles at a time) from the Roman Empire, three men’s morris from various parts of Asia, and Picaria from Native Americans. This was not only a paper and pencil game, but it was also one of the very first video games, specifically developed by British computer scientist Alexandar S. Douglas in 1952.
Some historical variations of this game include:
Roman Empire - Terni Lapilli (Ancient Rome, ~1st century BC to 1st century AD) Terni Lapilli was a version of Tic-Tac-Toe played with pebbles on grid boards. Evidence of this game has been found in ancient Roman ruins.
Medieval Europe - Three Men’s Morris (Medieval Europe, ~12th century) A variant of Tic-Tac-Toe, it was commonly played in Europe during the Middle Ages. The game involves a similar objective of getting three pieces in a row, often played on carved boards.
England - Noughts and Crosses (England, ~19th century) The game as we know it today became widely popular in the UK during the 19th century under this name. "Noughts" refer to the O's and "Crosses" refer to the X's.
Portugal - Jogo da Velha (Portugal, ~20th century) This name, meaning "the old woman’s game," emerged in Portugal in the early 20th century and is still used today to refer to Tic-Tac-Toe.
United States of America - Tick-Tack-Toe (United States, ~20th century) Details: The modern name "Tic-Tac-Toe" was popularized in the United States during the early 20th century, possibly evolving from older names like Tit-Tat-Toe.
So what’s "XOXO Tic-Tack-Toe"? It’s this geocache, so go find it and sign the log. Lots of goodies packed in the container, I’ll try to keep it resupplied but feel free to trade swag as you grab swag.
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This was a competative FTF, lots of folks showed up and sounds like it was a great social.
FTF kudos go to: mockmoniker
Honorable FTF ('fourth to find' but first to make contact) goes to SharkAndDino