Children as young as 3 years of age can play this game, although they may not play precisely according to the rules or recognize the competitive nature of the game. Frequently, when 3-year-olds play this game, they believe that the goal is simply to get 3 in a row, and that if both players achieve this goal, both have won. They do not recognize the temporal nature of the game; that is, that the first person to get 3 in a row is the winner. This is OK!Beginners may find it challenging to track all 8 of the potential rows of 3 that they can make (young children often fail to notice the diagonal), and may not notice when the other player is about to make a row of 3. Once they learn how to block, they may focus on blocking, and fail to notice a row of 3 that they could have made. As they become better able to coordinate these 2 goals (getting 3 in a row and blocking the other player from doing so), they may begin to notice how they can set up 2-way strategies for winning. This requires thinking 2 or more moves ahead.