Trinity (2003)

Trinity is a New Zealand designed and published abstract strategy game for 2 players. The game is played on a 4 by 4 square grid, which is marked a-d on the horizontal axis and 1-4 on the vertical axis for record keeping.

There are three types of pieces, which are identical for black and white. First are the ORBS, which are circular pieces with red, yellow, green or blue in the center. The second type of pieces are ARCS, which have a stripe of color matching those of the orbs. The arcs are 120 degrees in extension, so three arcs fit around an orb. HALOS are the third piece type, and are either white or black. They are rings which fit outside the orbs and arcs. There are four orbs, four arcs and six halos of each color, made of plastic.

The orbs are set up on the 1 and 4 rows with the matching color arcs with those orbs. Play consists of each player moving one orb one square horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The matching color of arc MUST be then moved. Arcs can move to any other legal square on the board.

The easiest way to win is to trap an opposing orb with three arcs of any color around it (an Arc-win). If you can box in your opponents orbs so that he has no valid moves, then you have gained an Orb-win. Finally, if you can move your four pieces inside four halos of your own color you have completed a halo win. A draw is an option through player agreement or stalemate from repeated moves.

A halo is "earned" by moving three of your arcs so that they form a complete ring, with no orbs inside it. The arcs then attack the opposing pieces of the same strip color as the arcs.

The game rules come in a 16-page A6 sized rule book. There is also a CD for Windows PCs to practice strategies.