The motivation for the game as listed on the page, was to make the original tic-tac-toe (a timepass game), slightly interesting.
The coin toss forces the suboptimal move, thereby giving the other player a chance to play the optimal move next time. The original game is quite easy, and becomes boring because most games tend to be tied. This configurations will allow individuals to keep playing, for a longer duration, knowing that the other player might not be able to play the most optimal move.
The coin toss forces the suboptimal move, thereby giving the other player a chance to play the optimal move next time. The original game is quite easy, and becomes boring because most games tend to be tied. This configurations will allow individuals to keep playing, for a longer duration, knowing that the other player might not be able to play the most optimal move.