Game Mode: Tic-Tac-Tango

4 min readOct 23, 2023

Go toe to toe in this dizzying one-on-one Tic-Tac style Lizzie battle!

Tic-tac-tango is a strategic grid-style game based on Dizzy Lizzy that resembles Tic-tac!

How is it played?

Tic-tac-tango is played with two players; one player attempts to make a Lizzy with all the same pattern (dots), while the other attempts to make a Lizzy with all the same colour (purple). The players take turns moving Dizzy Lizzy cards on a grid to do so. The player who makes his/her Lizzy first wins!

Player 1 focuses on identical colours (all purple), and player two on identical patterns (all dots)!

Game mechanics

In this game mode, the two players focus on making a complete Lizzy based on colours (player 1), or patterns (player 2), while simultaneously preventing the other player from making their Lizzy.

The starting layout of a game of Tic-tac-tango!

Preparation

The following cards are selected from the Dizzy Lizzy deck:
- One purple body with dots.
- One purple tail with dots.
- Two purple heads with stripes.
- Two blue heads with dots.
- Three red tails without dots (so either diamonds or stripes).
The cards are placed in a 3 x 3 grid, as seen in the picture above:
- The purple body with dots goes in the middle.
- The purple tail with dots goes on the middle-bottom.
- The purple heads with stripes go on the top left and bottom right.
- The blue heads with dots go in the bottom left and top right.
- The three red tails go on the middle top, left middle, and right middle.

Turn 1 — player 1 moves purple head up. Turn 2 — player 2 defends by turning the middle body vertically. Turn 3 — player 1 moves purple tail diagonally.

Gameplay

Opening — Player one gets the first turn and may make one move.

During — Player One and Player Two take turns making one move per turn. The players can choose from the following moves:

Turn the center-body card from horizontally to vertically (or vice versa).
Exchange two surrounding cards that are adjacent vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

End — The game ends when one of the two players manages to lay a Lizzy entirely in his/her colour or pattern and wins! This can be achieved either horizontally or vertically, but pay attention! The centre-body must align with the head and tail cards that make the Lizzy. It only counts if the body and head/tail cards are all in line horizontally — or vertically.

Game rules

Colour starts — The player that attempts to complete a Lizzy based on colours (purple) is player one and starts the first turn.
Taking turns — The players take turns, and may only make one move each turn.
No repeat moves! — Players may never repeat the exact same move as their opponents: If the opponent just turned the centre body, the player may not turn the centre body back right after, and if the opponent has just switched two cards, the player may not immediately switch back those exact same cards.