Tic Tac Total Puzzle

I’m back today with a new puzzle, Tic Tac Total. This puzzle, unlike the Pair Ups Puzzle I shared recently, can easily be applied to the distance learning classroom.

It’s from the same excellent book Test Your Math IQ by Steve Ryan. I was able to borrow the book for free from the Internet Archive’s online lending library. I highly recommend this site for checking out various books before you commit to buying a copy!

Like I mentioned before, the thing that made this puzzle stick out to me as I browsed through the book was the fact that the puzzle could be easily adapted to digital platforms. The puzzler is given three tic-tac-toe boards which have numbers in each cell.

The goal: To find a winning tic-tac-toe on each game board. Sounds easy enough, right? One game must contain a diagonal win, one game must contain a horizontal win, and one game must contain a vertical win. Additionally, each number from 1 to 9 must be included your three winning lines. That is the tricky bit.

In a Pre-COVID world, I would have definitely utilized my class set of dry erase pockets with this puzzle. There’s something magical about putting a dry erase marker in the hand of a student and giving them a task to tackle.

MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…

I cannot imagine teaching math without my dry erase pockets! They instantly make any activity more engaging and save me countless hours at the copy machine since I can use the same class sets of copies year after year.

Here are my current go-to recommendations:

• 8.5 x 11 Inch Dry Erase Pockets from Puroma
• 11 x 17 Inch Dry Erase Pockets from C-Line Products
• Expo Dry Erase Markers

If you don’t have a classroom set of dry erase pockets, you could also use heavy duty sheet protectors. But, I highly recommend investing in a classroom set of the pockets since they are so much more durable.

For example, the solution below cannot be correct because the third tic-tac-toe board needs to involve a diagonal win using the numbers 3, 5, and 8. I did set down and solve this puzzle myself, and I found the logical thinking I had to go through to be quite enjoyable. I think your students will enjoy tackling Tic Tac Total.

Digital Version

I can definitely see this puzzle serving as a fun intro or brain break for a Desmos Activity. Just toss the image in and have the students use the sketch tool to solve. Here’s my Desmos version of Tic Tac Total if you want to take a stab at solving the puzzle yourself!