OXO

For other meanings, see Oxo. OXO
OXO for System 6/System 7running in Classicin Mac OS X v10.4.3. Developer(s)A.S. Douglas Designer(s)A.S. Douglas Platform(s)EDSACRelease date 1952 Genre(s)Traditional gameand Paper and pencil gameMode(s) Single player Media Delay line memoryInput methods rotary dial, console

OXO (also known as Noughts and Crosses) is a tic-tac-toe computer game made for the EDSAC computer in 1952. It was written by Alexander S. (Sandy) Douglas as an illustration for his Ph.D. thesis on human-computer interaction for the University of Cambridge. OXO was the first known (graphical) game to run on a computer. However, there is a patent dating from 1947–1948 that describes a missile simulation game utilizing a cathode ray tube.[1]

The player played against the computer, and output was displayed on the computer's 35×16 pixel cathode ray tube. The source code was short, yet it played a perfect game of noughts and crosses. OXO did not have widespread popularity because the EDSAC was a computer unique to Cambridge.

OXO consisted of a digital display system that showed a "pod" visual system like scoreboards at the Olympics. It is argued that OXO was the first video game ever made, predating even William Higinbotham's Tennis For Two from 1958.

1 Startscreen
2 Program
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Startscreen

9 8 7 NOUGHTS AND CROSSES 6 5 4 BY 3 2 1 A S DOUGLAS, C.1952 LOADING PLEASE WAIT... EDSAC/USER FIRST (DIAL 0/1):

Program

EDSAC/USER FIRST (DIAL 0/1):1 DIAL MOVE:6 DIAL MOVE:1 DIAL MOVE:2 DIAL MOVE:7 DIAL MOVE:9 DRAWN GAME... EDSAC/USER FIRST (DIAL 0/1):

References

^ Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann filed a United States patent application on January 25, 1947 and U.S. Patent #2 455 992 issued on December 14, 1948.