When you play a new game, and immediately everyone asks to play it again, you think you might have discovered something good.

When everyone wants to play it repeatedly again and again, you know you’ve got a family card-game hit!

That’s the way we discovered Trio from Happy Camper.

Likewise, that’s how a game shoots right to the top of our “to review” pile – bumping ahead of many other fun games in the queue.

So let’s talk about Trio!

 

How to play Trio

Trio is a very simple game to learn and play.

The deck consists of numbered cards from 1 to 12 with three cards of each number. The goal is to get all three cards of a number – thus a “trio”. The first player who gets three trios or a trio of the 7’s wins the game.

A number of cards are dealt to each player (depending on player count) with the rest of the cards face down in the center of the table. Players take their hand of cards and arrange them in order, low to high.

On a player’s turn, they will reveal 2 cards. First, they may ask any player (themselves or another player) to reveal either their lowest or highest card or they may reveal one of the face down cards on the table. Next, they do this same thing again–revealing a second card. If the two cards revealed match, the player may now reveal another card in the same way (lowest, highest, or face down).

If all three cards match, the player has successfully made a trio. They place the three cards in front them and play continues with the player to their left.

If the cards revealed don’t match, those cards are placed back in their location – players hands or face down again on the table – and play continues with the player to the left.

The first player to collect 3 trios or a trio of the 7’s wins the game.

Or players may choose to play the “Spicy” version. The game play is exactly the same, but there’s another possible win condition. If a player collects 2 trios where the small numbers at the bottom of the cards match, they immediately win.

 

Can the whole family enjoy Trio?

Trio is definitely a fun card game for families to enjoy playing together.

The game play is simple enough for young and old players alike. And because there’s a memory element to the game, it’s a great way to exercise your brain – for both young and old as well.

The game accommodates 3 to 6 players. We’ve enjoyed playing it at all player counts, but we prefer 5 or 6 players most.

We’ve found with 3 players, there’s higher probability that a player will have multiple of the same number in their hand at the outset. Whereas, with 5 and 6 players, the cards are more distributed and players have to think more about their choices.

There’s also a little bit of strategy on when to choose from the face down cards on the table.

And we like the ability for a player to win immediately if they claim a trio of 7’s. Since that number is near the center of the 1-12 number spread and players can only choose to reveal a player’s lowest or highest card, you have to be further along in the game before the 7’s can even be played. Which means that even players that are behind in collecting trios still have a chance to pull out the victory.

 

How does Trio score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

As I’ve already stated, Trio is never set aside after just one play. There’s a constant call for “just one more”.

A game of Trio typically only lasts 5 to 10 minutes. So we’ve never played only one game. We play multiple games in a row. And doing that adds another challenge – because you have to try to erase from your memory where cards were from the games prior.

It’s an added test to your memory as you think through where you last saw a certain card – either who held it or where it was positioned on the table. But that also adds to the fun of playing multiple games in a row.

We highly recommend getting a copy of Trio to play with your family.

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The Board Game Family would like to thank Happy Camper for a review copy of Trio.