Trio

• Designer: Kaya Miyano
• Players: 3-6 
• Age: 8+
• Time: 15 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by Happy Camper Games (5+ times), played purchased copy of Nana (>30 times)
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4b6TX5G

Trio is a card game in which players are looking for three of a kind. The deck consists of 36 cards, numbered 1-12 three times. Players receive some cards in hand, which they are required to sort from low to high, and the remaining cards are placed face down on the table.

On your turn, choose any single card to reveal, either the low or high card from a player’s hand (including your own) or any face-down card from the table. Then, do this again. If the two cards show the same number, continue your turn; if they do not, return the cards to where they came from and end your turn.

If you reveal three cards showing the same number, take these cards as a set in front of you. If you are the first player to collect three sets, you win — except that a player wins immediately if they collect the set of 7s or two sets that add or subtract to 7, e.g., 4s and 11s.

The above short description is almost all that you need to know to play the game. I mean, seriously, that’s all the rules to Trio.  170 words up there, and honestly, it could be slimmed down.  I will admit that there are still a few other things to know.

First, there are two modes of play.  The first is called Simple – and that is what is described above.  You win when you get a trio of trios.  The second is called Spicy – and you win by getting two connected trios (two that add or subtract to 7) OR by capturing the 7-value trio.

Interestingly, in the original game (nana), all of the win conditions are in play – they aren’t separated into two different modes.  If you like that added tension, it’s no problem to just play both together. 

Trio also adds rules for team play – teams always being made by two players. After players have sorted their hands, partners each pass a card to their partners (which are then placed in the correct location in their hand).  The only communication allowed between players is the passing of cards.  The rest of the game is played with the regular rules with one other exception – a team is allowed to swap cards each time an opponent completes a trio.  The team shares their completed trios and the win conditions don’t change.

So, if you would have told me that two of my favorite games from recent years would be memory games – I’d likely have told you that you’re crazy.  Yet, Trio/Nana is one of those games, and it consistently hits the table here, nearly 2 years after I first played it.  (The other game is an unpublished prototype that I hope I get a chance to tell you about soon…)

The game is mostly a memory game; and it’s amazing how much confusion can be caused by only 36 cards – and you know the relative order of them in the hands!  These moments of confusion/forgetfulness/inattention are invariably hilarious, and my games of Trio/nana tend to be filled with laughter as we all watch the active player try to remember or reason out where a particular card might be.   In the end, I rarely end up not having fun while playing this gem.

The game is dead simple, and this is the attraction of the game.  I can teach you in 170 words apparently – about 1 minute – and we can be off and having fun.  I’m personally not a fan of the split win conditions, but there is nothing stopping me from printing up the nana rules and playing with them.   The two differences are: reduced deck sizes for fewer players and having all the win conditions in effect at all times.

The art in Trio is colorful and attractive with a sort of Day of the Dead feel (or maybe just a voodoo Mexican restaurant?).  The cards have nice large numbers on them and are indexed in both corners so that lefties aren’t at a disadvantage.  I find that I like to use a card holder when I play this to prevent myself from trying to reorder the cards or somehow play with them. The bottoms of the cards have reminders for what you need to score a Spicy win.

This has been both my filler of choice as well as my introductory game of choice since I first got my own copy of nana; and Trio has the added advantage that when the inevitable happens – my friends want their own copy – they can easily do so!

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4b6TX5G

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Dale
• I like it.
• Neutral
• Not for me…