Play Noughts & Crosses for Free

Pinpointing what type of game this is a tricky one as it combines elements of scratch cards and slot machines to create one super activity, while confusing, it makes it more appealing to a wider audience.

Plastered upon a bright yellow backdrop, the red and black of the noughts and crosses really stands out and draws the eye, and in turn helps give it an old school postmodern vibe that we just love. It’s simplistic in its layout, and you won’t find fancy sound effects here, but it still manages to draw you in all the same.

To the right hand side is where you’ll find that matrix I mentioned earlier, with nine grey squares calling for you to scratch them out and reveal your luck (or loss). You can choose how you unveil your lines: you can either tap and reveal them one at a time, or click the ‘Reveal All’ button at the bottom. Although the latter takes the fun out of the whole point of the game, it is a great way of speeding the action up, which is perfect for when you’re in a rush.

When you make a winning combination a white line will strike through it, flashing at you, and the symbols will become slightly enlarged. Should you be unsuccessful the title bubble will transform to say ‘Unlucky’ in bold black, red and white, which isn’t patronising in any way, shape or form. We lie. It is.

Regardless of whether you are victorious or not, the amount is shown in the big red cross on the left hand side of the screen; sometimes the amount is very small, only a couple of euros, and other times it’s a lot bigger. Obviously if you don’t win your bet will be lost and you have to start again, making it a cutthroat risk game.

So how do you go about the challenge of a lifetime and scratch out those icons? Well it all begins with the amount you want to stake.

Eyecon have been quite flexible with their range in this game, with the lowest value being 0.10 and the highest 10.00. Although it isn’t hugely diverse, it is enough to accommodate all types of players. You can set this amount via the green arrows beside the amount window, which are marked with a plus and minus symbol to help clarify what you’re doing.

Then there is the ‘play again/reveal all’ bar, depending on whereabouts in the game you are; when it’s the play again option the widget is red, but when it is reveal all it turns blue, not to mention it is clearly marked with white font.

Other than that the only other aspect of the game you can control is whether you play with or without sound, and given that there is nothing overly special about what you’ll hear, we imagine it won’t be long before you’re reaching for the mute toggle.

This is a clever way of reconnecting with your childhood or discovering a game you never enjoyed when you was little; whichever way you dress it up, Noughts and Crosses is an amusing albeit simplistic title. It won’t stimulate you for long, but the element of risk is enough to get you to play a couple of times. Unfortunately the payout isn’t that great, so if you’re looking for big windfalls you’re in the wrong place.