Oxo

For other meanings, see Oxo.

OXO
Developer(s)	A.S. Douglas
Designer(s)	A.S. Douglas
Platform(s)	EDSAC
Release date	1952
Genre(s)	Traditional game and Paper and pencil game
Mode(s)	Single player
Media	Delay line memory
Input 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.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.

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.

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

External links

• Edsac Simulator: An emulator of the EDSAC, including the code for OXO
• PONG-Story: A.S. Douglas\' 1952 Noughts and Crosses game

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