MNK — Board Game (Tic‑Tac‑Toe Variant)

A Python implementation of the MNK game (a generalization of tic‑tac‑toe). Play against the computer with three difficulty levels. Developed as part of an academic Programming Fundamentals project.

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Table of Contents

• Overview
• Features
• Project structure
• Main functions
• AI difficulty levels
• How to run
• Game rules
• Example run
• Requirements
• Contributing
• Author

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Overview

The objective is to align K pieces in a row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) on an M×N board. A human player competes against an AI-controlled opponent. The player who uses symbol X always goes first.

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Features

• Configurable board size: M x N and target K
• Three AI difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard
• Automatic detection of wins, losses, and draws
• Text-based interface for the terminal
• Player vs Computer mode

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Project structure

The repository contains a single main script:

• FP2425P1.py — full implementation of the game, including the functions listed below.

Main functions

• eh_tabuleiro() — validates the board structure
• tabuleiro_para_str() — converts the board into a string visual representation
• jogo_mnk() — main function that starts and runs the game
• escolhe_posicao_manual() — handles the user's move input
• escolhe_posicao_auto() — implements the computer AI

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AI difficulty levels

• Easy: Chooses moves adjacent to its own pieces (simple heuristic).
• Normal: Blocks opponent's immediate winning moves and tries to create winning sequences.
• Hard: Simulates future moves to make more strategic decisions (deeper analysis).

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How to run

1. Make sure you have Python 3 installed.
2. Run the script from a terminal:

python FP2425P1.py

During execution the program will ask for:

• Board dimensions: M, N and K
• Player symbol: X or O
• Computer difficulty level: Easy, Normal or Hard

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Game rules

• A player wins by aligning K consecutive pieces horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
• The game ends when one player wins or when the board is full (draw).
• The player using X moves first.

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Example run

Example terminal output:

Welcome to MNK GAME.
The player plays with 'X'.

+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |
+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |
+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |
+---+---+---+

Player's turn. Choose a free position: 5

When prompted, enter the number corresponding to a free cell.

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Requirements

• Python 3.x
• No external libraries required

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome — bug fixes, AI improvements, refactoring, or additional tests. If you'd like, I can:

• Split the single script into modules (for example board.py, ai.py, cli.py)
• Add unit tests
• Improve documentation with more examples

Tell me which option(s) you prefer and I can prepare changes or a patch.

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Author

Developed as part of an academic Programming Fundamentals assignment.