hmm... great explanation. It sounds like it does something almost exactly the same as my program except mine takes advantages of fliped and rotated boards. The whole idea of giving each cell a value sounds like one of those things that works easily in theory but is much harder to apply. I think you should start out without it giving each cell a value and instead giving each cell a 1 or a 0 for if it moved there. this may simplify things but you dont have to do it. In my tic tac toe program it checks each board and if it is the same and the computer side won it will most likely move there. it then checks to see if it also matches a losing board and if it does it starts over again or moves randomly... start over (not completely just go back to the comp moving randomly) then try a simpler concept and build uppon it like I did and you may come up with some better ideas :) it is very hard to just jump into a great idea but it is easier to look at the great idea and break it down. Then when you start you wont be instantly satisfied however as you improve it over time it will work out :) hope this helped