On Saturdays when I was a boy of 14 or 15, it was my habit to ride my red Roadmaster bicycle to the various thrift shops in my home town. One afternoon, at Clarice's Values, I unearthed a beat-up ...

Tic-tac-toe is about as simple as games get—but as Scientific American’s legendary contributor Martin Gardner pointed out almost 70 years ago, it has complex variations and strategic aspects. They ...

This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The ...