This is a two person game. You play against your computer. The board consists of
a row of nine squares numbered 1 through 9. Players take turns selecting squares. The goal of
the game is to select squares such that among those selected by a single player there will be
a triplet that sums up to 15 (hence the name Fif.)
If the box "I move first" is checked, you have to click the "Start" button which will cause
the computer to make the first move.
Theory of the Game
The game is equivalent to playing a regular TicTacToe game on the magic square board. (The square is magic in that the sums of three numbers on any straight line (vertical, horizontal or diagonal) is always 15.) There are eight such lines:
- Horizontal
- 4 + 9 + 2 = 15
- 3 + 5 + 7 = 15
- 8 + 1 + 6 = 15
- Vertical
- 4 + 3 + 8 = 15
- 9 + 5 + 1 = 15
- 2 + 7 + 6 = 15
- Diagonal
- 4 + 5 + 6 = 15
- 2 + 5 + 8 = 15
These are all possible representations of 15 with three smaller positive integers.
As is well known, a TicTacToe game ends in a stalemate unless one of the players makes a mistake. In the Fif game, computer has the advantage of knowing the origin of the games and having in front of its Mind's eye the magic square board. To make
the game more appealing computer errs with the probability of 1/20.
I must note in passing that my earlier Magic Squares game has
no relation to the magic squares as defined here. There is a great many books and Internet
sites devoted the theory and construction of magic squares.
