Trio

Trio is a memory game for 3-5 players, (or up to 6 when playing as teams) where your goal is collect matching trios of cards.

The deck is made up of twelve such trios (numbered 1-12) and players are dealt a number of cards whilst some (how many depends on player count) are left face-down on the table. Everyone keeps their cards secret but orders them from high to low in their hand, then play begins.

On your turn, you can reveal up to three cards: from your hand, from other’s hands, or flipping one of the cards on the table face-up. Drawing from anyone else’s cards must be the highest or lowest card they have – you simply request one or the other, and the same rule applies to your own hand. Flipping from the middle can be one someone flipped before, or a previously-unseen card. If at any point you reveal a non-matching card, your turn is instantly over, and all revealed cards return to hands (or are flipped face-down again if revealed from the table).

If you manage to reveal a third card and they all match, however, you claim the the trio and keep it face-up in front of you. To win, you must either have two trios that combine through addition or subtraction to make a trio of seven (eg 12s minus 5s, or 1s plus 6s) or grab the instant-win trio of the sevens themselves.

There are also team rules for 2v2 or 3×3. This is – to us – the best experience of the game, as team-mates periodically get to swop cards (and hence share information).