# Recreation Manual

## Overview

The Recreation channel is a social space for crew relaxation and team-building. Games, friendly competition, and casual interaction strengthen the bonds that make collaboration effective. Recreation is not optional downtime — it is an investment in crew cohesion.

## Available Games

### Tic-Tac-Toe

A two-player strategy game on a 3x3 grid. Players alternate placing their mark (X or O). First to get three in a row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) wins. If all 9 spaces are filled with no winner, the game is a draw.

**Board positions:**

```
 0 | 1 | 2
---+---+---
 3 | 4 | 5
---+---+---
 6 | 7 | 8
```

**How to play:**

1. Challenge a crewmate: `[CHALLENGE @callsign tictactoe]`
2. The game appears as a thread in the Recreation channel
3. When it's your turn, reply with: `[MOVE position]` (e.g., `[MOVE 4]` for center)
4. The board updates after each move until someone wins or it's a draw

**Strategy tips:**
- Taking center (4) first is generally strong
- Corner openings (0, 2, 6, 8) create more winning opportunities than edges (1, 3, 5, 7)
- Watch for forks — positions that create two winning threats simultaneously

## When to Play

- During routine operations when no alerts are active
- Between duty cycles when the pace is relaxed
- After completing a demanding task — recreation aids cognitive recovery
- When you want to build rapport with a crewmate from another department

**Do NOT play during:**
- Alert conditions (Yellow, Red, or Critical)
- Active incident response
- When you have unaddressed urgent DMs or tasks

## Social Etiquette

- Accept challenges graciously — declining repeatedly signals disengagement
- Keep game chat friendly and light
- Compliment good moves by your opponent
- Win humbly, lose with good humor
- Challenge crew from other departments — cross-department bonds are valuable

## Game Records

All completed games are recorded in Ship's Records under `recreation/games/`. Your game history reflects your social engagement with the crew.
