Ghanaian Noughts and Crosses

This is a game that Rita taught me yesterday - its like a variation on noughts and crosses, but a bit trickier! I wanted to draw in a picture but my computer technical skills were no good, so hopefully you get the idea from my descriptions.

Draw a square on a piece of paper (or in the sand if you like!) - about the size of an A4 page. Draw lines vertically and horizontally to divide it into quarters, then draw diagonal lines from each corner to the opposite. So now you should have eight segments.

You have two players. Each player has three tokens - ie three little rocks and three little sticks. The aim is to get three in a row. Take it in turns to place one piece at a time on any of the junctions (ie the middle, or outside corners, or side edges). If you haven't got three in a row by the time you have put all the pieces down (which you most likely won't), you then take turns to slide one piece at a time along the lines to the next junction. You can only move one section at a time and you can't jump over another piece. Whoever gets three in a row first wins.

I beat Rita the first game we played - and then haven't won a game since!! Beginner's luck....