A board game by Sean Hyde-Moyer
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Welcome to the TrioTrio page.
Feel free to give the game a try and give me some feedback using comments below. Sorry about the poor formatting. The built-in HTML editor in my CMS is pretty primitive. There is a nice, easy to read verion in PDF form in the downloads section. You might want to read that, then come back with your comments.
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The Goal
Capture all the enemy pieces, and be the last player on the board.
What You Need To Play
* 1 six-sided die
* The printable board and pieces.
If you are playing the downloadable version, you will need to print the board and pieces. You’ll need to cut out the game pieces.
If you find the paper pieces hard to play with, try gluing them to pennies.
Setting up the Game
Each player starts with three pieces on the board, one each of Rock, Paper and Scissors. Players start on opposite sides of the board, with their pieces placed with one space between them, along the back row of the board as illustrated:
They should be laid out Rock-Paper-Scissors, left to right.
Starting the Game
Players may each roll 1 six-sided die. The highest roll goes first.
You can also play Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who goes first.
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Playing Rock Paper Scissors
Both players make a fist. In sync, they make a striking motion in the air with their fists, as if hammering an invisible nail. Do this three times; one, two three. On the fourth strike, each player chooses one of the three hand gestures: Rock, Paper or Scissors. Rock breaks Scissors for a win. Scissors cut Paper to win, and Paper covers Rock to win. In the case of a tie, the game is repeated until someone wins.
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Taking a Turn
A turn has two parts:
* Changing a piece (optional)
* Movement (optional)
At the beginning of each turn, the player can indicate one piece, and roll to change its type.
The player can then either forfeit their move, or roll to move. If a player chooses to forfeit her move, it must be done before she rolls for movement.
Rolling to Move
If the player chooses to move, she rolls one six-sided die and moves one of her pieces exactly that number of spaces. The roll can be applied to any one of the player’s pieces on the board.
Moving Rock
or 
Rock can move either left/right/ up/down, or it can move diagonally. The player chooses one or the other at the start of the move, and can only move in those directions for that move.
Remember: Rocks come in different shapes…the rock piece can move in different directions.
Moving Paper
Paper can only move left/right/up/down.
Remember: Paper is rectangular…it moves in straight lines.
Moving Scissors
Scissors can only move diagonally.
Remember: An open pair of scissors is diagonal…scissors move diagonally.
General Movement Rules
* No piece may move back to a space it just left.
* A piece does not have to move in only one of its legal directions. If you want to move your Rock piece for six, you can move it two left, two up, one left, on up, for instance.
* No piece may land on, or move through a space occupied by another piece. The only exception is if it is making a capture (see Capturing).
Like Pieces Repel
No pieces of one type (for instance, Paper) may move within one square of a piece of the same type (again Paper), either as their final move, or in passing.
It’s Yellow’s turn. She rolls a two.
The red area shows the squares she can’t move to or through, without coming within one square of another Paper piece.
This rule applies regardless of what team the similar pieces belong to.
If Yellow had two paper pieces on the board, the same exclusion would apply.
This exclusion applies to any like pieces: Rock/Rock, Paper/Paper, Scissors/ Scissors.
If a player does move within one square of a like piece, she loses that piece.
The Capture Sacrifice:
There is an exception to the one-space exclusion. If Yellow rolls a three or a five in this example, she would be able land on Rock and capture that piece (see Capture).
This is a legal move. However, at the end, we have two Paper pieces sitting within one square of each other.
This is the sacrifice: the Yellow piece is removed from the board.
Rolling to Change
The player first points to one of her pieces to indicate which one she wishes to change.
She then says, “I’m rolling to Change.” The player then rolls one six-side die and changes the piece based on the chart.
Danger! If the new piece is within one space of a similar type piece (see Like Pieces Repel), it is removed from the board.
If the roll is the same as the piece they are trying to change, no change is made that turn.
Capturing
To remove an enemy piece from the board, you must land exactly on that piece with a superior piece. You know the order:
| Rock beats Scissors | Scissors beats Paper | Paper beats Rock |
When a superior piece lands exactly on an inferior piece, the inferior piece is removed from the board.
Special Board Spaces
Movement Restrictors
The board has a permanent Paper and Scissors. These spaces restrict the player’s movement:
Example: A permanent Scissors.
A player’s Scissor piece cannot move within one square of the permanent Scissor.
A player cannot land a Paper on the permanent Scissors piece. Scissors beats paper, and the piece would be removed from play.
Rock can move freely through the permanent Scissors space.
The same relationship holds true for the permanent Paper space. No Paper may move within the exclusion zone, no Rock may land on the Paper space.
The Golden Cow
There is a golden tile in the middle of the board called the Golden Cow. If a player has lost a piece, she can try to reclaim a captured piece (only up to the original three pieces) by using the Golden Cow.
To reclaim a lost piece, the player must land a piece on the Golden Cow and stay on that square for three consecutive turns. The piece is returned to the board at then end of the third turn.
Example: Yellow is down one piece. She lands on the Golden Cow.
Blue takes his turn. Yellow stays on the golden cow, and moves another piece. Blue moves again. Yellow stays on the golden cow, moving another piece. Blue moves again. Yellow sits for one more turn. At the end of the turn, Yellow may reclaim a lost piece, putting it on her center start space.
When a piece is returned to the board, it is placed in the player’s center start space. The player can choose which type of piece to return to the board.
Note! Though the player must try to remain on the Golden Cow for three turns, they may still roll to change the piece that holds the Golden Cow.
Important! After having successfully reclaimed a lost piece, the player must move off the Golden Cow as their next move.
Winning the Game
The last player to have a piece or pieces on the board is the winner.
TrioTrio Strategies
With any luck, you now have a good idea of the rules of TrioTrio. Now let’s have a look at some of the strategies that evolve from these rules.
Closing
When trying to capture an opponent’s piece, it can be advantageous to get next to the piece, even if you don’t have enough movement to make the capture.
Before After
In the illustration above, Yellow rolls a two. It’s not enough to capture the Stone, but puts the Paper piece adjacent to the Rock.
Rock is in a bad spot, and the easiest approach would be to roll to change to something other than Rock.
But now Blue has a problem, if he rolls to change, he could end up changing to Paper. As he is sitting next to another Paper, he would lose his piece.
So the choices are roll to change, with a one-in-three chance of loosing a piece, or roll for movement and try to move away. Yellow has him on the run!
Shadowing
Savvy TrioTrio players will make use of the same-type exclusion zone to force opponents to make tough choices
Here, Blue has two pieces adjacent. Blue’s Rock is parked in the shadow of his Paper piece.
On a roll of two, four or six, Yellow would be able to capture the Blue Rock. But in this configuration, Yellow would have to sacrifice her Paper to make the capture.
Sometimes this trade-off is worth it, other times it is not. This is a useful defensive move when you are unable to run away from a nearby attacker.
Pressing the Attack
This is just a friendly reminder that unlike many games, the pieces in TrioTrio can change, and that this can have dramatic consequences.
Before After
Here, Yellow starts out in a bad spot
The Blue player could reach her piece on a roll of two through six, and if she rolls a one for movement, it’s still fairly grim.
But just by rolling to change at the start of her turn, she is transformed from the hunted into the hunter.
Now she can capture a Blue piece on a roll of two through six.
Thanks for trying TrioTrio!
| Special Thanks To
Brian Berry
Gareth Hinds
Sonja Hyde-Moyer
Dave Leip
Dan Thron
For play-testing the game.
TrioTrio is
© Sean Hyde-Moyer 2003.
All Rights Reserved.
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