Tic-tac-toe, or noughts and crosses as it’s known in some parts of the world, is a simple game, often a childhood pastime. Yet, even in its simplicity, language has evolved around it, particularly when a game ends in a draw. This is where the curious phrase “cat’s game” comes into play. But why “cat’s game”? And what are the historical roots of associating our feline friends with a tied outcome in this classic game? Let’s delve into the etymology and early documented instances to unravel the story behind the “Cats Game” in tic-tac-toe.
The term “cat’s game,” referring to a tie in tic-tac-toe, finds a formal definition in the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) published in 1985. The dictionary entry for “cat’s game” is quite comprehensive, listing it alongside variations like “cat,” “cat game,” and “cat’s tail.” DARE pinpoints its usage specifically in the context of a tick-tack-toe game that results in a draw.
cat’s game n Also cat, cat game, cat’s tail | A tie game of tick-tack-toe.
The dictionary entry further strengthens its analysis by providing citations from different periods and regions. A 1950 Wisconsin English Language Survey (WELS) is quoted, revealing various responses to the scenario of a tic-tac-toe game where neither ‘x’ nor ‘o’ wins. Informants from Wisconsin used phrases like “The cat’s,” “Cat’s game,” “(One) for he cat,” “Cat got (or gets) it,” and simply “Cat.” This regional survey highlights the established use of “cat” and related phrases to denote a tie game in tic-tac-toe in the mid-20th century Midwest.
Tic-tac-toe grid
The DARE entry also cites a 1965–70 DARE survey, indicating widespread use of “Cat’s game” across various regions, and scattered instances of simply “Cat.” Interestingly, Oregon is specifically mentioned for “Cat game,” and California for “Cat’s tail.” The entry concludes with a set of informants using phrases like “Cat wins,” “Cat won,” “Cat gets it,” etc., further cementing the association of the “cat” with the game’s draw outcome. This broad geographical spread and consistent phrasing in the DARE citations underscore the established and recognized nature of “cat’s game” in American English vernacular.
Venturing beyond dictionary definitions, we find early printed examples that illuminate the usage of “cat game” in context. Richard Andree, in his 1955 publication “The Need for Modern Mathematics,” provides an early documented instance. Andree, while discussing the simplicity of tic-tac-toe (which he mentions is also known as ‘noughts and crosses’), uses “cat game” to describe a drawn game, emphasizing that a skilled first player can at least force a draw, even if they don’t secure a win.
Tic-tac-toe, three in a row, or old cat is a game which almost everybody knows how to play. My five year old son enjoys playing it under the name ‘noughts and crosses.’ Players soon discover that i[t] isn’t very much of a game. The person who goes first can’t lose unless he blunders. He doesn’t necessarily win–it may be a cat game–but he can’t lose unless he blunders, After you discover this, the game loses interest.
Edward McCormick, in his 1959 book “Digital Computer Primer,” further reinforces this usage. In the context of explaining logical problems solvable by computers, McCormick uses tic-tac-toe as an example. He notes the game’s finite nature and the fact that optimally played games will invariably end in a draw, which he explicitly terms a “cat’s game.”
Tick-Tack-Toe. An example of logical problems which can be solved on a logical computer is the game of tick-tack-toe (tit-tat-toe, or naughts and crosses). This ancient child’s game is simple enough to be thoroughly analyzed, and many devices for playing it have been built. It is played (if anyone need be told) by two people, who alternately place naughts and crosses on a 3 × 3 grid. The game is won by the player who gets three marks in a row. In game-theory parlance, the game is finite (comes to a definite end) and if played rationally will result in a draw (a cat’s game).
Prior to these mid-20th century references, variations of the phrase existed, offering clues to the evolution of “cat’s game.” Bryng Bryngelson and Esther Glaspey, in their 1951 Speech in the Classroom, describe a game similar to tic-tac-toe called “Old Cat.” In this variation, if neither player achieves three-in-a-row, “the Old Cat wins the game.” This “Old Cat” concept appears to be a direct precursor to the simpler “cat’s game” phrase, indicating an earlier form where the cat is explicitly declared the winner of a drawn tic-tac-toe game.
Old Cat | A game similar to tick-tack-toe may be played as follows: One Picture Nine Game Card is given to two pupils, and the corresponding small cards are spread out face up on the table. The first player chooses any small card he wishes, names it, and plays it face up over the corresponding picture on the large card. (If he does not name the card correctly, he loses a turn.) The other player chooses a card, names it, and places it on the Picture Nine Game Card face down so as to distinguish it from the other player’s. The two players continue, each trying to complete a row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) with three of his own cards, as with circles and crosses in tick-tac-toe. If neither player gets three of his cards in a row, the Old Cat wins the game.
Going further back, Fred A. Sassé’s 1924 Rookie Days of a Soldier uses the phrase “The cat has the game” in a seemingly analogous context, even though he refers to the game itself as “tit-tat-to.” While the context is slightly different (comparing vaccination marks to tic-tac-toe), the phrase suggests that by the 1920s, the idea of the “cat” somehow claiming a tied game was already present in vernacular usage.
Next, you walk around to the doctor who vaccinates your left arm by pricking two lines up and down and two lines across, similar to the old Tit-Tat-Toe game. The cat has the game in a great many cases, for the vaccination doesn’t always work.”
One of the earliest and most illustrative examples is found in Carolyn Wells’s 1902 story, “The Tit-Tat-Toe Club,” published in Ainslee’s Magazine. In this fictional piece, characters playing “tit-tat-toe” (another variant name) use phrases like “Cat it! Cat it!” and “give it to the old cat,” explicitly instructing to draw the game. The story even mentions a shared understanding among the characters, referencing “a large space dedicated to the old cat,” implying a pre-existing cultural context where the “old cat” is associated with a drawn game.
“Cat it! Cat it!” cried Miss Pollock, suddenly, and every member of the whist club jumped involuntarily, but immediately resumed her composure, and glanced reprovingly at her neighbor.
“Cat it!” cried Miss Pollock, again ; “give it to the old cat, don’t you know? Draw the game!”
To a few of the ladies present came a dim recollection of two childish heads hidden behind a discreet geography, and bending close above a slate, on which were marked the respective scores of the players, and a large space dedicated to the old cat.
“It is considered equally as clever to cat a game as to win it,” Miss Pollock informed her audience. “Indeed our champions cat all their games.”
However, the cat wasn’t always the figure associated with tie games. Folkloric records point to earlier traditions involving different figures. Alice Gomme’s 1894 The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland in A Dictionary of British Folk-lore describes “Noughts and Crosses” being played with a third, invisible participant: “Old Nick,” or “Old Tom.” In this older version, if neither player wins, “Old Nick” wins the game. This suggests a historical precedent where a third, often unseen entity is credited with a tie in tic-tac-toe-like games.
Noughts and Crosses diagram
If neither player gets a “three,” the game is won by “Old Nick.” Whichever player wins a game adds “Old Nick’s” score to his own. In some games “Old Nick” keeps all he wins for himself, and then most frequently wins the game.—London (A.B. Gomme)
The “Memoir on the Study of Children’s Games,” from A Dictionary of British Folk-lore, part 1 volume 2 (1898), further elaborates on this. It mentions that in “Noughts and Crosses” and “Tit-Tat-Toe,” a draw is marked for “Old Nick,” “Old Tom,” or “Old Harry”—again, these are often euphemisms for the Devil. This text even speculates on the origins of this tradition, linking it to older customs of assigning portions of land or crops to spirits, suggesting a potentially ancient, even pagan root for the concept of a third, supernatural player in a tied game.
Now, in “Noughts and Crosses” the simplest form of making a “row of three,” where only two players play, and in another diagram game called “Tit-Tat-Toe,” it is possible for neither player to win, and in this case the the result is marked or scored to an unknown or invisible third player, who is called “Old Nick,” “Old Tom,” or “Old Harry.” In some versions this third player is allowed to keep all the marks he registers, and to win the game if possible; in others, the next successful player takes “Old Nick’s” score and adds it to his own. Here we have an element which needs explanation, and it is interesting to remind oneself of the primitive custom of assigning a certain portion of the crops or pieces of land to the devil, or other earth spirit, which assignment was made by lot. It seems to me that a game in which an invisible player takes part must come from an era in which unknown spirits were believed to take part in people’s lives, the interpretation of such part being obtained by means of divination.
Even as late as 1923, Francis Ross’s Reading to Find Out: A Silent Reader for Primary Grades describes a similar concept, but with a more child-friendly figure. In Ross’s version of tic-tac-toe scoring, games that neither of the two named players win are said to belong to “Jack,” a “make-believe child.” This again highlights the tradition of assigning a draw to a third, passive entity, even if the identity of that entity shifted over time.
Those games that neither Ruth nor John wins we will say belong to Jack, who is just a make-believe child.
It’s important to note that not all early descriptions included this third-party attribution. The American Boy’s Book of Sports and Games from 1864 simply refers to a tie in “Tit-Tat-To” as a “draw game,” showcasing a more straightforward and perhaps earlier understanding of a tied outcome, devoid of any third-party winner.
If A is smart he will put his cross between those two naughts, though it end in a draw game, for B will put his naught on the opposite side, and then no one can make it [three in a row].
In conclusion, the journey of the tic-tac-toe tie, from a simple “draw game” to a “cat’s game,” reveals a fascinating linguistic and cultural evolution. While earlier traditions attributed the draw to figures like “Old Nick,” “Old Tom,” or “Old Harry” – names associated with the Devil – the shift towards the “cat,” and particularly “old cat,” may represent a softening or domesticating of this concept, perhaps to make it more palatable for children. Whether the cat was chosen simply as a common, silent observer, or if there are deeper, perhaps forgotten, associations between cats and those earlier, more infernal figures, remains somewhat of a mystery. Regardless, the enduring phrase “cat’s game” stands as a testament to the rich and often surprising history hidden within even the simplest of expressions, linking our childhood games to older folklore and linguistic shifts.
