The importance of forcing and tree search in Qubic

Abstract

Qubic, also called three dimensional Tic-Tac-Toe, provides a good environment for developing and testing different concepts of heuristic programming and game theory. Because Qubic is a simple game one can minimize the task of learning the rules of the game as one must do in Chess or another more complex game; however, one should realize that Qubic is not a trivial game. It is not known if the person who moves first can win every game (has a win strategy) or tie every game (has a draw strategy). Citrenbaum [in 1] claims that a draw strategy exists for the game while Gammill [1] claims that a win strategy exists. The current knowledge about Qubic supports both sides. This paper proposes a solution to the game by combining the two procedures of forcing and tree search into a single strategy.