Game: Trias

Thread: Re: Tile slide

Matt L — 2008-09-01T11:05:15+00:00

It was indeed, thanks John. Still might give it a go one day.

Thread: Re: Tile slide

Friendless — 2008-08-29T00:06:36+00:00

I remember that for some other game, but what was it? Hive!

Thread: Re: Tile slide

verdigast — 2008-08-28T20:59:48+00:00

I've not heard of that variant, but it would make the game interesting.

By some coincidence, I played Trias today with four friends. During the game I suddenly realized that it might be fun to have the dinosaurs fight each other with dice. Um, like Risk.

Trias, the Risk variant. Only we probably should use some kind of dinosaur dice.

I'm only half-kidding.

Thread: Tile slide

Matt L — 2008-08-28T05:34:30+00:00

I thought I remembered a variant (interpretation) where the drifting tile had to be able to physically slide from its location (as opposed to being picked up)? Does anyone else remember or has tried this?

Thanks
Matt

Thread: Re: Is The Winner Too Predictable?

Barticus88 — 2008-06-12T02:41:42+00:00

DSHStratRat2 wrote:
Anyway, the math nerd's claim was that the last guy to take a 4-action turn gets an incredibly large advantage, and should win nearly every game. We argued the point, and he backed off to a claim of 60% of the time.
There's an advantage to the last four action turn and there's an advantage to the last two action turn, and both fall to the same player. However, it's not that huge. In a five player game, the player on my right drew the meteor. She took the first two action turn, then I took the second. I used one action to save three of my swimmers (letting a fourth drown) and then bred one more dino. It had the effect of giving me the greatest population on the biggest continent, and sealing off the other players on that continent so they couldn't save swimmers or move or breed. I won.

Thread: Re: Tile Inventory request

Michael Ward — 2008-05-14T08:58:33+00:00

Uh, it says how many cards, tiles, and critters there are of each type on page one of the rules. At least that's the way my RGG version is.

Thread: Tile Inventory request

herman_the_german — 2008-05-13T17:09:03+00:00

Can someone post a bit inventory for Trias? I am missing three tiles and am not sure which. Thanks.

Thread: Re: Two players open Trias for the first time...

chaddyboy_2000 — 2008-05-13T03:02:10+00:00

jgrundy wrote:
chaddyboy_2000 wrote:
Just curious, did you forget the intermediate scoring throughout the game? I don't see any mention of it in your report...
On pg 8 of our rules (the back page) under "Special rules for 2 players" it says "players do not score the new continents as they are created".

Ah, ok, I've never played this one with 2. Seems like the lack of intermediate scoring would take a lot out of the game. It would really devalue the option of a second drift per turn.

Thread: Re: Two players open Trias for the first time...

jgrundy — 2008-05-12T07:24:11+00:00

chaddyboy_2000 wrote:
Just curious, did you forget the intermediate scoring throughout the game? I don't see any mention of it in your report...
On pg 8 of our rules (the back page) under "Special rules for 2 players" it says "players do not score the new continents as they are created".

Thread: Re: Two players open Trias for the first time...

chaddyboy_2000 — 2008-05-12T06:36:54+00:00

Just curious, did you forget the intermediate scoring throughout the game? I don't see any mention of it in your report...

Thread: Re: I don't understand example 2.

GeoMan — 2008-05-07T09:45:28+00:00

ejohnson7 wrote:
This still leaves me pondering. Isn't a new land mass created by a drift to the rightmost D positions, since there are two land masses before the drift and three afterward?

Yes, there are 3 land masses created but since you join two land masses in a D position there's no scoring.

That rule should be better worded.

Thread: Re: I don't understand example 2.

ejohnson7 — 2008-05-07T05:35:43+00:00

The English rules posted online at http://geckogames.spieleck.de/download/Trias-USA.pdf are different from the July 2003 printing that I have. They read, in part,

• If a new land mass arises after separation from the main land mass (= land
mass containing the South Pole), score this land mass if the drifted tile is
connected to the new land mass. A connection to the main land mass will not
be scored.
• If division causes yet another new land mass to arise, score the land mass to
which the taken tile is connected.
• If through the above mentioned cases no new land mass is created, but rather
this land mass is connected with another land mass or the main land mass
there will be no scoring.

This still leaves me pondering. Isn't a new land mass created by a drift to the rightmost D positions, since there are two land masses before the drift and three afterward?

Help!

Thread: Re: I don't understand example 2.

ejohnson7 — 2008-05-07T05:07:26+00:00

GeoMan wrote:
As you remove tile X four continents are created. If you put it on the rightmost D positions you join two of the newly created continents. If you join continents there is no scoring.

I have the July 2003 version of the rules.

I can't find anything in my rules booklet that prohibits scoring from a move that joins continents. My reading of the rules indicates that if the drifting of a tile creates one or more new continents, then one of them (the one to which the tile was drifted) is scored.

A tile drifted to the rightmost D positions would seem to create a new continent, as before the move there are two continents and after the move there are three, so it seems that this should be a scoring move.

Here's what the Gecko Games website FAQ says on this issue:

Exactly when does interim scoring occur?
When a tile is taken to create two new landmasses where there was previously one it is possible for an interim scoring to occur. If the taken tile is placed so that a separated new landmass arises an interim scoring is scored.
When will it not be scored?
a) If the taken tile is placed so that it re-connects to any other landmass(es) there is no interim scoring.
b) If the taken tile is placed to connect to the landmass which contains the south pole there is no interim scoring.

See http://geckogames.spieleck.de/en/trias/faq.html#FRA004

Unfortunately, that doesn't clear up my confusion.

Does anybody have a insight into this matter?

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Friendless — 2008-05-03T12:32:51+00:00

Game with larger home-made hexes and toy dinosaurs

Image

Friendless — 2008-05-03T07:34:15+00:00

CyberKev deep in thought while Gordon is deeply depressed

Thread: Two players open Trias for the first time...

jgrundy — 2008-03-24T07:17:46+00:00

Bought it. Opened it. Punched it out...

Trias had been floating around the edge of my radar for a while. I finally bought it as a somewhat impulse afterthought to a game order a couple of months back. It almost came out first when the game delivery arrived, because we wanted to start with "something quick", but the rulebook put me off for the time being and it ended up last of the new games instead.

Tile punching started out so easily (a mere tap-and-it-drops affair) that I was lulled into a false sense of security and slightly tore the first tile that didn't just drop out of the sheet.

I read the rules a couple of times, scratched my head, and checked my interpretations via BGG articles. (While the rules are complete and accurate, there were a total of seven rule points I wasn't 100% confident on.)

I explained the rules to my wife. Given the total number of individual rule points this turned out to be very quick.

Played it...

We essentially made our initial placements at random, since we had little idea what might be a good or bad start other than the "tips" in the rulebook. I had one placement at one edge of the world, and our other three placements were all near each other.

My placement on the edge of the world turned out to be a good one, as by halfway through the game the land mass broke away ("Australia") with only those two herds on it, and it stayed isolated for the rest of the game bringing me five easy points at game end.

The rest of the world broke into two main parts, one continent with no mountains and most of my herds on it ("Africa") and the other continent ("Asia") staying attached to the pole tile with only one of my herds and four of my wife's, plus all the mountains that weren't on "Australia".

Asia maintained a small peninsular reaching only one hex gap from Australia for most of the game. I kept toying with the idea of drifting a tile in Asia to bridge the gap, and then using my optional points to immediately drift a tile from the Asian end of the land bridge to the far side of Australia thus moving an extra two land tiles to my monoplised Australia. But when the option actually came up I chickened out of drowning my last herd at that end of Asia. In hindsight I should've done it.

My wife's herds on Africa proved very energetic and fruitful, soon multiplying to contest dominance there.

Late in the game, Madagascar (two tiles) split off Africa with both our herds evenly divided between them and dominance continuing to be hotly contested on both land masses. Shortly afterwards Japan (two mountain tiles) broke away from the Asian major continent. My wife dominated Japan, but one of my straggling herds managed to swim to shore there.

The end game came suddenly, as the very first card in the Second Age (drawn by me) heralded the meteor strike. It became immediately obvious that the only Action worth anything in the final round is Reproduction. ~~Being highly suggestable and juvenile we took a short break from boardgaming.~~ My wife had the advantage of having two herds in supply (thanks to the tip in the rulebook) compared to my one. (I was expecting to drown one on purpose in the next turn... which I never got a chance to do.)

Final Land Masses:
Australia: 5 points to Me
Japan: 2 points to She, 1 point to Me
Rest of Asia: Five tiles still (barely) attached to the pole - no points
Madagascar: 2 points to She, 1 point to Me
Rest of Africa: 2 points each.

Totals:
She: 6
Me: 9

Afterthoughts..

If the meteor hadn't struck so soon, my wife would probably have split Asia from the pole...
Rest of Asia: 5 points to She, 3 points to Me
She: 11
Me: 12

One interesting aspect: Starting the final round my wife and I were equal on both Madagascar (2 tiles) and Africa (4 tiles). She had two herds to place, I had one.
If she places both herds on Africa then I can't catch her there and instead claim Madagascar. The scoring would be... Africa: She 4, Me 2. Madagascar: She 1, Me 2. Total She 5, Me 4.
If she places one herd on each then I rebalance Africa. The scoring would be... Africa: She 2, Me 2. Madagascar: She 2, Me 1.
ie whichever way she acts in that situation she gets one point more than I do for the two land masses.

For us (well, for me really) the times claimed on game boxes are usually a guide to the minimum possible game length. In this case, the two player variant involves only half the number of turns as the four or five player game and the game was indeed played out in much less than the hour claimed on the Trias box.

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khaox — 2008-02-22T14:31:35+00:00

Board changing during play

Thread: Re: Review by SOS (from 2002)

DoctorW — 2008-02-20T03:32:16+00:00

Very nice review, made all the better by the "bowb" digression.

Thread: Re: How Many Games Feature Continental Drift?

TheCat — 2007-12-15T12:24:23+00:00

I have a 9 year old who regularly plays games pegged 2 years above her age. While she might be able to get the mechanics, I don't think she could handle the strategy. She'd make legal plays but lose badly.

Thread: Re: New continents - breaking them up and scoring again?

TheCat — 2007-11-24T03:31:46+00:00

The rules say you can only score the 'new' continent if it contains the tile/hex that drifted.

Thread: Re: How Many Games Feature Continental Drift?

Friendless — 2007-11-22T23:36:05+00:00

Urland

Thread: Re: How Many Games Feature Continental Drift?

Drez — 2007-11-22T20:16:38+00:00

Sag,

Having very little experience playing board games with kids, I don't know if I'm the best qualified to make that assessment. However, I do work with children sometimes, and they seem pretty bright, so I would probably put the lower limit on this game to 10 if an adult was around to help explain a few things. And I think 12 is about right if it's just a group of kids on their own.

In other news, there are way more games featuring continental drift than I thought! This almost feels like a Geeklist... that being said, I've started one!

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/26488

Thread: Re: How Many Games Feature Continental Drift?

ekted — 2007-11-22T20:11:10+00:00

Magier von Pangea

Thread: Re: How Many Games Feature Continental Drift?

Sagrilarus — 2007-11-22T18:56:28+00:00

    Conquest of Pangea as well.

    The package says the game is for ages 12 and up. Now that you've played, where would you put the low end for age, both for when an adult is in the mix, and when kids are on their own?

             Sag.

Thread: Re: How Many Games Feature Continental Drift?

Drez — 2007-11-22T17:54:13+00:00

I have to say, that game looks pretty fantastic .

Thread: Re: How Many Games Feature Continental Drift?

duchamp — 2007-11-22T17:45:57+00:00

Dinosaur Chess

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Thread: How Many Games Feature Continental Drift?

Drez — 2007-11-22T16:18:18+00:00

I picked this game up at a board game auction, and the major selling points at the time were: "it's got an orange box", and "this game features continental drift". Fortunately, it has a few more aspects than those to recommend it, and I thought a quick review was in order.

Each player is represented by a herd of dinosaurs (pretty cool!), and is responsible for the spreading of that herd across the vast continents that are soon to form from the initial game board, initially composed of hexagonal tiles which are all touching (see below).
]]>(Everyone starts with a few dinosaurs on the board)

For the rest of the game, each turn you must play a card which forces you to move a land tile, with the rule that the tile you move must end up further from the South Pole (the center tile) than where it started (sort of an inverse Carcassonne mechanic here). Any dinos which lived on that tile, are left behind as "swimmers", as any table without a tile on it is considered water. But worry not dinosaur rights activists, these guys are quite rescuable on later turns, and typically very little dino death occurs.
]]> (poor white has quite a few dinos that need saving)

The rest of your turn is spent moving dinosaurs, reproducing them, and saving them from watery death using an action point system (similar to Tikal if you're familiar with that game).

If by moving your tile you form a new continent, and then proceed to add your recently taken tile to that continent, it scores, based on majority. It should be noted that unless you have dinosaurs on a land mass, you are no longer able to drift tiles away from that continent, making it important in many cases to make sure you spread your dinosaurs out as to have many options during the drift phase. After several turns, many new continents will inevitably form, and the effects of continental drift will be felt by all.
]]>

Often continents will reconnect and then disconnect again, resulting in continents scoring more than once. This can be an important strategy in the midgame. But the midgame can't last forever, and eventually the meteorite card comes out that signals the end of the game (sorry dinosaur rights activists... I guess dino death does occur). The majority of your points usually usually come from the end of the game when all of the continents undergo the final scoring, where again, majority is used to calculate who gets the points, but this time your points are proportional to the size of the continent. As in most games, the most number of points wins.

Although the mechanics used in the game are nothing particularly creative, it's the combination of them all that makes a game that's fun and interesting to play. The correct decision is never entirely clear, and every rule seems to try and capture the theme of the game which is always nice to see.

A few additional points you might be interested in:
I think this game plays well with any number of players (2-5).
The time the game takes to play doesn't scale up with the number of players as the meteorite comes at about the same point in the game regardless.
Dinosaurs and continental drift are two things never to be missed out on.
The terrain tiles are a little dull with little variation.
It's clear that some versions of this game have better components than others (different types of dinosaurs, cubes... look at the image database for details)

A quick summary:
Fun/Theme:
Mechanics:
Components:
Weight:

And for those who just want some rating on an arbitrary scale: 7/10

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jwedel — 2007-11-02T15:02:40+00:00

Trias - all the cubes.

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jwedel — 2007-11-02T14:42:19+00:00

Trias - replacement dinos for the first edition cubes came in the mail. Ordered from geckogames.spieleck.de

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jwedel — 2007-11-02T07:29:40+00:00

Trias - comparing the first edition cubes to the second edition dinos

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jwedel — 2007-10-28T04:25:10+00:00

Trias, my first-edition cubes that wish they were dinosaurs.

Thread: Re: South Pole Dino Migration Question

iPAUL — 2007-09-10T14:06:42+00:00

Michael Ward wrote:
Sure, you can move on to the South Pole hex. But its really the worst place you can be since any herds left on that continent at game end are not scored. Plus a herd on the South Pole would never score during the game either. I'd say avoid the pole hex at all costs.

Thanks Michael, having read the rules through again I see your point. Guess it was a dumb question

Still, it may be useful if a player needed to move a herd a distance of several tiles (1 action point per herd per tile) to be able to use the South Pole tile in the course of movement.

This will all probably become more clear to me after I actually play the darn thing .

Thread: Re: South Pole Dino Migration Question

Michael Ward — 2007-09-10T03:56:11+00:00

Sure, you can move on to the South Pole hex. But its really the worst place you can be since any herds left on that continent at game end are not scored. Plus a herd on the South Pole would never score during the game either. I'd say avoid the pole hex at all costs.

Thread: South Pole Dino Migration Question

iPAUL — 2007-09-10T00:56:15+00:00

I didn't see this mentioned in the rules anywhere, but may have missed it while skimming.

Can dinosaurs in the Movement phase, move onto the South Pole tile (hex tile with the volcano)? What about initial herd placement? Can a player place herds on the South Pole tile at the start of the game?

I just bought this game but have not yet played.

Thanks in advance.

Thread: Re: One Girl's Opinion: Trias

Rusty567 — 2007-09-01T19:01:01+00:00

EvanMinn wrote:
Is that right? That once the comet is drawn, there is no more drifting?

I only played the game once and I rated it a 3 because I lost pretty just because the person to my right drew the comet and everyone that went after me drifted a tile out from underneath my dinosaurs and there was nothing I could do about it. I lost at 1/4 - 1/3 of my herds because of it.

If I was being taught wrong, I will remove that rating.

According to my rulebook: "In the last round, the players skip the required drift. Also, each player has just 2 action points in the optional actions phase of the last round." I assume that the limitation to 2 action points is to explicitly prevent the situation you've described because that would suck (and I can completely understand how it would turn you off the game).

Thread: Re: One Girl's Opinion: Trias

EvanMinn — 2007-09-01T16:30:00+00:00

Rusty567 wrote:
...

Endgame
During the endgame, no more tiles can be drifted, but each player gets 2 points to spend on reproduction, migration or rescuing swimmers.

...

Is that right? That once the comet is drawn, there is no more drifting?

I only played the game once and I rated it a 3 because I lost pretty just because the person to my right drew the comet and everyone that went after me drifted a tile out from underneath my dinosaurs and there was nothing I could do about it. I lost at 1/4 - 1/3 of my herds because of it.

If I was being taught wrong, I will remove that rating.

Thread: One Girl's Opinion: Trias

Rusty567 — 2007-09-01T00:25:01+00:00

Overview
I bought Trias for one reason and one reason only - it has dinosaurs! I'd never played it before, but it seemed to get decent reviews, it's reasonably inexpensive (same price range as Carcassonne) and Evo isn't the easiest game in the world to track down. Several plays later, I really like this game and I'm glad I bought it (shallow reasons and all).

Each player controls one species (colour) of dinosaur and is trying to ensure that they proliferate as widely as possible as Pangea (the board) breaks up. This requires that the herds of dinosaurs spread out and reproduce as much as possible while avoiding drowning, overpopulation and being cut off from the largest land masses.

Thus, Trias is an area control game for 2-5 players with the added fun of a constantly changing map. I'd suggest that if you like Tikal, you're likely to enjoy Trias. Both games have similar "feels" - though Trias has more opportunity for direct player interaction. Trias is also similar to Carcassonne in that it can be played as a friendly family game (I'll just build up my herds over here while you split off a continent over there), but it can also be played cut-throat (oh, by the way, I just broke up your continent and stole two thirds of it).

Bits and Pieces
Be aware that many of the pictures in the image gallery include custom components or components from other editions. The English language second edition of Trias includes small wooden dinosaurs in a different colour for each player. They're all cut from the same pattern and look a little like stegosaurs. If you've ever played Ark, you'll recognize them:

[INLINEIMG]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic191631_t.jpg[/INLINEIMG][INLINEIMG]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic171944_t.jpg[/INLINEIMG][INLINEIMG]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic37794_t.jpg[/INLINEIMG]

The hexagonal tiles and scoring track are in muted shades of green, tan and grey - with dino footprints representing each position on the scoring track. The tiles are just under 2" (5 cm) across so that, when assembled, the starting board is only about a foot long in any given direction. Expect it to grow a lot bigger than that by the end of the game, though, as the tiles move apart! The game also includes two blue water tiles which are used to introduce random holes into the starting set-up and are removed before play begins.

[INLINEIMG]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic40806_t.jpg[/INLINEIMG][INLINEIMG]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic60933_t.jpg[/INLINEIMG][INLINEIMG]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic97585_t.jpg[/INLINEIMG][INLINEIMG]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic60935_t.jpg[/INLINEIMG]

It would have been nice if the game had included a play mat with hexes printed on it (as shown in the image below). Presumably this would have required a larger box and may have increased the price. If playing with kids, I'd definitely download this player mat (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/fileinfo.php?fileid=14227) as it makes it easier to track how far any given tile is from the central volcano (South Pole tile):

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The game does, however, come with turn summary cards for each player (though you do need to reference the rule book to answer questions like how to score) included in the deck of cards. The remaining cards picture one of the three terrain types with either a "1" or a "2" on the back. These numbers are necessary to control when the game ends as there is an additional "2" card that signals game end. Given the theme, this is, of course, the meteor strike card!

There's also an Italian edition of the game called Ciao Dino. Its wooden dinosaurs look more like plesiosaurs and its tiles are more brightly coloured:

[INLINEIMG]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic223615_t.jpg[/INLINEIMG][INLINEIMG]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic223709_t.jpg[/INLINEIMG][INLINEIMG]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic223616_t.jpg[/INLINEIMG]

How to Play
The rules below are for 4 or 5 players. For a 3-player game, three cards are removed; otherwise, it's the same as described below.

For a 2-player game, several tiles and cards are removed, each player is limited to 10 playable herds (plus one for the scoring track), the number of spendable actions is reduced from 4 to 3, and there's no midgame scoring.

Set-Up
Each player gets 16 wooden dinos - one for the scoring track; the other fifteen each represent one herd of dinosaurs. This is important to remember because it means that a lone herd can reproduce, doubling in size. You don't need two dino pieces on the same tile to reproduce!

The board is set up by placing the South Pole tile in the middle of the table and surrounding it with three rings of random tiles - making a large hexagon that is seven tiles across from corner to corner. Remove the two blue water tiles (leaving holes in the board) and put them back in the box with the two extra tiles you didn't use. This process means that you'll have a different board every time you play and gives the game most of its replayability.

Shuffle the "2" cards and place them face down then shuffle the "1" cards and place them face down on top of the "2" cards. Deal each player one "1" card (which they may look at but not show other players) and determine who will be first in turn order.

Starting with the player who will be last in turn order (and working backward so that the "start player" places last), each player places a pair of dino herds on any one empty tile. Once every player has placed a pair of herds, each may place a second pair of herds (in the same order) on a second empty tile. This process is designed to minimize the inherent advantage to the player who goes first and the inherent disadvantage to the player who goes last. Remember that the goal is to proliferate your herds as widely as possible. Since this is your only opportunity to place herds in a relatively unrestricted fashion, you'll want to keep your two pairs of herds relatively far apart on the map!

The board now looks something like this (with one more tile than shown in the picture):

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Play
On their turn, each player chooses to play either the card in their hand or the top card of the draw deck. The card played determines what kind of tile that player will "drift". Drifting involves moving a tile from its initial position to a new position farther away from the central South Pole tile. The player may choose any tile matching the card played as long as it:

1. has at least one side bordering the open sea (the empty space around the board), and
2. started as part of a continent on which the player had at least one herd.

The tile may be moved to any open sea location on the board as long as it:

1. is farther away from the central South Pole tile than it started, and
2. is still part of the same continent in which it started (if drifting the tile creates two new continents, the tile can be part of either new continent).

If the tile had any herds of dinosaurs on it, they are left behind, "swimming" in the open sea. If the tile moves to a location that held "swimmers", it appears underneath them, rescuing them from their watery fate. (The image below is from the first edition, which had cubes instead of wooden dinos.)

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Drifting a tile is mandatory. If there's no legal way to drift a tile matching *either* the card in the player's hand *or* the top card of the draw deck, the player may drift a tile of their choice. Only if there's no legal way for the player to drift any tile, may they skip this portion of their turn. This means that it's possible to force other players to drift tiles that they *really* don't want to!

After drifting a tile, the player gets 4 points to spend on actions that turn:

1. Drifting a second tile costs 3 points and must follow the drifting rules - except that no card is needed, so the player can drift any kind of tile they want.
2. Rescuing "swimmers" costs 1 point for every three swimmers (which don't need to start in the same spot or end up on the same tile). Swimmers may only be rescued to adjacent tiles; they can't swim around the board!
3. Migrating a herd (moving it to an adjacent tile) costs 1 point per herd and per tile.
4. Reproduction costs 1 point per herd chosen and adds a herd to that tile.

Note that each kind of tile has a maximum capacity:

a. Mountain (grey) cannot support more than 2 herds.
b. Steppe (tan) cannot support more than 3 herds.
c. Forest (green) cannot support more than 4 herds.

Herds may not migrate through fully populated tiles (or be rescued to a fully populated tile) nor may a herd on a fully populated tile reproduce. This makes mountain tiles particularly effective at blocking access to a region - but be careful your blockade doesn't get drifted out from under you!

If a player has any herds still swimming at the end of their turn, they are returned to their hand. If a player has herds on an overpopulated tile, they must be removed until the tile is no longer overpopulated. Finally, the player draws a new card if they had played the card in their hand. AS SOON AS THE METEOR STRIKE CARD IS DRAWN, the endgame begins (and the board probably looks something like this)

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Endgame
During the endgame, no more tiles can be drifted, but each player gets 2 points to spend on reproduction, migration or rescuing swimmers.

Scoring
Thus far, I haven't mentioned scoring outside of the fact that this is an area control game. There are two ways to score points in Trias.

Every time a continent is broken into two (or more) new continents by a drift, the continent onto which the tile is drifted is scored immediately:

1. The player(s) with the largest number of herds on the new continent get(s) 2 points.
2. The player(s) with the second largest number of herds on the new continent get(s) 1 point.
3. In cases of ties, every tied player gets the points. Ties for first do not affect the second place scoring.

At the end of the game, every continent except the original one (with the South Pole) is scored:

1. The player with the largest number of herds on the continent gets points equal to the number of tiles in the continent.
2. The player with the second largest number of herds on the continent gets points equal to half the number of tiles in the continent.
3. Ties are resolved by sharing the available points. Ties for first therefore mean that there will be no "second place" players as the first place players will have shared both the first place and second place points.
4. All fractions are rounded up.

Given that the map consists of 34 tiles plus the South Pole, there are a *lot* more points up for grabs in the endgame scoring and most players will score at least half of their overall points then. This means that it's important to plan ahead and try to be top-two on at least one relatively large continent (or hold majorities on a number of medium sized continents). At the same time, you'll need to make sure you don't fall *too* far behind during the midgame scoring. Six points can easily be made up; sixteen points can't.

General Impressions
That seems like a lot of rules, but Trias is actually quite intuitive once you get playing: drift a tile, rescue/move/reproduce some herds, score points anytime you make a new continent. The mechanics work nicely with the theme, without which they'd seem quite arbitrary. The lusher landscapes can support more herds of dinos than the sparse ones, and the only rule that feels a bit unthematic is the one in which the only new continent scored is the one which ends up with the drifting tile. That rule leads to some nice (nasty?) tactical options, though, so I wouldn't want to see it lost.

In some ways, this game is one of best allocating resources. You only have 15 herds to play with; if they run out, the only way you're getting them back (to place elsewhere) is by letting some drown or be crowded out of an overpopulated tile. For some styles of play, this will be more of an issue than others. There's also a fair amount of room for creativity - continents can be broken off, reattached and re-broken off; they can be reshaped and split into smaller continents; you can use your mandatory drift to set up a scoring opportunity for an optional drift; you can work with other players or against them (or try and play in your own little corner of the map - if your opponents let you!).

Overall, I give Trias a B+. It's an approachable game that should play in 45-60 minutes once everyone knows the rules. It's somewhat vulnerable to analysis paralysis, though, so I wouldn't play it with someone who needs to analyse every possible option unless you have 2 hours to spare (this is the main reason it doesn't get an A). There are a number of possible strategies and tactics, not all of which are immediately obvious, and the modular board means that it has a lot of replay value for a relatively small price tag.

Thread: Re: New continents - breaking them up and scoring again?

Thommy8 — 2007-08-31T19:31:07+00:00

DougA wrote:
Octavian wrote:
... However they do NOT score mid-game. Only continents that break off of the original continent (containing the South Pole hex) will score ...midgame.

Sorry, I missed responding to this in my last post. This comment seems incorrect based on the 2nd bullet point of scoring - here it is with a bit of finagling:

"If a non-south pole continent is separated, the new continent... IS scored"

But how do you know which one is the new continent? If you break up a non-south pole continent into two separate continents, do you score both, just one, or neither? I'm still a bit confused by when midgame scoring occurs...

Image

Toynan — 2007-06-25T11:57:31+00:00

Ciao Dino in play

Image

Toynan — 2007-06-25T03:40:26+00:00

On the score board at the begining of the game

Image

Toynan — 2007-06-25T03:39:37+00:00

Thread: Re: Drifting To Save Dinosaurs

Solamar — 2007-03-25T02:11:25+00:00

I think the answer would be a) Yes, and b) Yes.

Thread: Drifting To Save Dinosaurs

openczun — 2007-03-25T01:52:23+00:00

A rules question came up recently. Here's the scenario:

- 3 dinos are swimming
- A player wants to drift a tile with capacity for 2 dinos

a. can the player drift the tile to underneath the 3 dinos despite the capacity of 2?

b. If he/she can drift the tile, does the 3rd dino die during the overpopulation phase/drowing phase of the turn?

Thread: Re: oops, the world is flat

fortinm — 2007-03-05T23:15:42+00:00

NateStraight wrote:
That would take a helluva lot of drifting and some really strange tectonic movement.

Not really. There has been more than one Pangea since the earth was formed. But I doubt that one species could exist for more than "one cycle".

Thread: Re: oops, the world is flat

NateStraight — 2007-03-04T05:17:01+00:00

That would take a helluva lot of drifting and some really strange tectonic movement.

Thread: oops, the world is flat

heli — 2007-03-03T23:38:17+00:00

As the world is close to a sphere, by continuing to drift and drift shouldn't the continents have the chance to bump into one another on the other side of the earth? As a game, wouldn't that make for some interesting new dimensions to your planning?

I think we need a board.

Thread: Review by SOS (from 2002)

sos1 — 2007-02-13T23:32:06+00:00

The Triassic

Trias means Triassic in German, and it's a game of the breakup of Pangaea, the ur-continent that once comprised all the continental crust of the earth. During the Triassic, Pangaea split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland, which further fragmented into the current continents. (I have a button that says "Reunite Gondwanaland!" that I sometimes wear to game conventions, but that's not at all germane to this review, sorry.)

The game consists of 39 hexagonal tiles, 39 cards, at least 16 wooden cubes in each of five different colors, a scoring track, five rules summary cards in both English and German, and the rules, also in English and German. (Other language versions of the rules can be found on the publisher's website.)

The components, while not spiffy, are attractive and sturdy enough. There are really only three types of tiles in play, and they're mostly just color with a small amount of decoration, so the board looks a bit bland compared to most German games. But it's not garish or unpleasant - it's quite serviceable.

The Setup and the Theme

Each player takes 15 cubes of the same color, and places the 16th on the scoring track. (There should be a zero space, but it seems to be missing.) The one "South Pole" tile and the two water tiles are removed from the hexagons, and the remaining 36 are shuffled. Count out 16 of those, and then shuffle in the two water tiles. These eighteen tiles are then placed in two concentric rings around the South Pole. Create one more outer ring with the remaining 20 tiles, leaving two tiles unplayed - return them to the box. At this point, remove the two water tiles - they were just there to create some large inland seas. From now on, everything that's not land is water.

The cards should be sorted into two decks: those with a "1" on the back, and those with a "2" on the back. Shuffle each deck separately, then stack the 1s on top of the 2s to create a whole deck of 39 cards. Each player is dealt one card.

Players then take turns placing their cubes - now called "herds" - on the board. Each player places two cubes in one hex, but not in the same hex another player has chosen. This is repeated, so each player starts with four herds on the board and 11 in stock.

There are three types of tiles: green forests, yellow steppes, and gray mountains. Forests can hold up to four herds, steppes up to three, and mountains up to two.

The object of the game is to disperse your herds onto as many landmasses as possible. While there is some scoring during the game, and it's not to be taken lightly, most of the scoring is at the end of the game, so you need to be playing with an eye for that.

Each turn a piece of Pangaea breaks off and is reattached elsewhere. Sometimes a piece is removed that creates separate land masses - you want herds on as many landmasses as possible! Sometimes a tile your herds were on disappears. The rules drily inform you that your herds are now called "swimmers" ...

A Typical Turn

So let's say it's my turn. My handy player aid card tells me I have four phases, some of which are optional. But the first one is mandatory: I must "drift" a tile. A tile is drifted by removing it from the board and reattaching it elsewhere. There are some key rules to remember when drifting, and they're all good rules. (I know, because we played wrong once, and it wasn't very good ...)

Drift rules include:

* You can only take a tile from a landmass on which you have at least one herd.

* You can only reattach a tile further away from the South Pole than where it was before you removed it.

* You can only reattach a tile to the land mass from which it came. It's possible that removing a tile can create two or even three landmasses, any one of which meets this criterion. In this case, you may choose which land mass to add the tile to. It's also possible to place a tile so as to join two or even three separate landmasses together - that's also legal.

* You can never drift the South Pole.

* You can never drift a one-hex island.

So I start by drifting a tile. I'll talk later about some drifting choices, right now I'll just mention the mechanic. Everyone has a one-card "hand." A card simply shows a green, yellow, or gray hexagon - if I play the card in my hand, I must drift a hexagon of that color. If I want to try for a different color, I may keep my hand and take the top card from the draw pile. I must play this card, however, if I take this route.

So let's say I draw a yellow card - I must drift a yellow tile. (If there are no yellow tiles on any landmass where I have a presence, I may choose any other color.) So I pick up a yellow tile and place it somewhere further from the South Pole than where I picked it up, but still connected, through as many tiles as I wish, to the landmass I got the tile from in the first place. Oh, the chosen tile must touch the ocean - not just an inner sea, but the actual surrounding ocean, which can come quite a ways inland and eventually split Pangaea apart.

Scoring may occur after drifting - more on that later. After scoring, if any, I now may spend up to four action points as the second phase of my turn. The player aid tells me I have some choices:

* For one action point I can move one herd one space.

* For one action point I can reproduce: place a herd in the same space as one of my existing herds.

* For a third of an action point I can rescue one swimmer: move it to an adjacent land tile.

* For three action points I can drift another tile without play of a card - pick any color tile on any landmass where I have a presence and drift it.

I can do these actions in any order I want, simply counting out my action points as I use them. There are some restrictions: I can't move into a space that already has its herd capacity met, for example. But once the game starts, I can move into another player's space if there's room for me. It's often a good idea, in fact.

My next phase is mandatory if applicable: any of my "swimmers" still in the water are now "drowners" - they are returned to my stock. Likewise, if I have more herds on a hex than it can support, the excess are returned to my stock.

The final phase of my turn, before the next player takes his turn, is to draw a card if I played my one-card hand. If I held my card and took a random card, I don't draw - no one may have more than one card in their hand.

Pretty simple, and usually it goes pretty quickly. Sometimes a player will have to think pretty hard about drifting or how to spend his four action points, but usually the game moves along at a fairly good clip.

Scoring and Winning

There may or may not be scoring rounds during the game. Oh, probably some, but they're not a given. There will be scoring when the game ends, though - that's guaranteed. Scoring is different during the game than at game end.

In order to score during the game, you must meet the following requirements:

* You can only score after a drift - either your mandatory drift, and/or a drift you buy for three action points. It's possible to score twice on your turn, in fact.

* The drift must create a separate land mass. This can be the first big chunk breaking off from the South Pole land mass, or it can be a two-hex island created from a three-hex island. Or anything in between. If you join two land masses together, you will not score.

* Only the land mass to which you add the drifted tile will score.

* The land mass containing the South Pole will never score.

If you meet all these requirements, and have made a legal drift by the drift rules above, there will be a score. Whoever has the most herds on the scoring landmass scores two points, and whoever has the second-most herds scores one point. Ties benefit all tied players - there are clear examples in the rule book.

At the end of the game, each land mass is scored separately. In this case, the size of the landmass is important: the bigger the landmass, the more points it's worth. The player with the most herds on a landmass receives one point for each hex in the land mass. The second player gets one half that score, round up. In this case, the tie rules are different, but again are clearly spelled out.

When does the game end? Remember some cards in the deck have a "1" card on the back, and some have a "2"? There are nine "2" cards, which are the bottom nine cards of the deck if you've assembled it correctly. One of them shows a meteorite striking the earth. When that card is drawn, it signals the final round of the game. (If I draw it in my Phase 1, I get my final turn right then. If I draw it in Phase 4 of my turn, the next player begins the final round and I'll have last turn of the game.) The last round of a game is a bit anti-climactic: you only get two action points and there is no more drifting, so there's not much you can do beyond reproducing or saving some swimmers to try to get your numbers up.

Some Tactics

The game has some very interesting depth to it - more than you realize in your first playing. Some things you can do to help yourself and hurt others include:

* Drifting a tile with someone else's herds on it. This removes them from the calculation if a scoring occurs before their next turn. It also forces them to spend an action point rescuing them or lose them.

* Conversely, drifting a tile with your own herds can also be a good idea sometimes! This is true if you're too far inland, for example, and have three herds you want to move, all on the same tile in the wrong place. By making them swimmers yourself, you can move them all one space (and not necessarily in the same direction!) for only one action point instead of having to pay three action points to move them individually. In fact, sometimes (especially in the two-player game where you have fewer herds) you want to drown your own herds to return them to stock so you can reproduce them elsewhere...

* Placing a drifted tile in the same space as your swimmers. This is perfectly legal, and is a way to rescue swimmers without having to spend action points to do so: the land rises up from under them.

* Blocking: filling a tile on a peninsula to capacity with your herds so that others cannot get by you. Unfortunately, this is usually begging for a drift, but it can be a temporary plug ...

* Joining and then redrifting. Sometimes you can score the same land mass over and over by joining it to another landmass, then paying three action points to drift it apart again. It's only two points per shot, though, and using three action points like that means three herds that don't move or reproduce ...

* Catching a landmass you're not on: if there's a big landmass you're not on, your only chance to get in on the scoring is to bridge to it and then run across the bridge far enough that the others can't sink you out again. Takes a lot of points and is risky, but is often worth it.

* Cutting others out of your land mass: drift a tile they're on, move the drifted tile so they can't reach it, and make sure that the only tile on your landmass they're adjacent to is full of your critters so they can't climb up.

* Gang up on the leader: don't be afraid to propose a one-two punch to another player if it's obvious you're both far behind another player. Sometimes that's the only way to catch the leader. "I'll sink this tile and move here. If you then sink that tile and move there, we'll cut him off of this landmass and we'll share the points, okay?"

While not a bad two-player game, we find it shines with three. You have less control with more players than that.

By the way, the publisher's website has a rule change for the three-player version you should know about: remove one card of each type from the "1" deck when playing with three players. We actually don't use it - we like the slightly longer game - but you should know the official rule, eh?

Why Wouldn't You Like This Game?

Hmmm - well, it's a bowbing game (http://www.panix.com/~sos/bc/bowb.html), and some people don't care for those.

Some people may be turned off by the luck of a one-card hand, but I like that part of it. With only three types of tiles, you shouldn't have a larger hand - there'd be no point to it.

Too bad they couldn't use the little ichthos from Urland - the cubes are a bit dull in this particular game. Oddly enough, I like cubes representing caballeros or aristocrats, but herds of prehistoric creatures should look more like animals somehow.

[Note added May 24, 2004: the second edition DOES come with little wooden dinosaurs! You can order them separately from the publisher's website if you have the first edition.]

It's not quite as good with five or four players as it is with three: it goes a bit too quickly and you lose some control over your destiny.

It's possible to gang up on the leader - this is actually a plus to me, but some people hate those types of games.

Not much else wrong with the game at all.

Summing Up

An excellent game requiring thinking but not overly cerebral. Lots of choices each turn, and opportunities to work with others against a common foe. Interesting theme, plays in an hour, leaves you wanting more. A good game we'll pull out fairly regularly over the years, I'm quite sure.

Thread: Re: 2-player trias with 2 herds each

mads b. — 2006-12-20T09:43:52+00:00

I've played with the variant in which each player controls two herds and i works quite well. It makes the board more crowded than a dummy player would, and there's also some nice choices you have to make as you play since it's the colour you have the least of that decides whether you win or loose.

mads

Thread: Re: 2-player trias with 2 herds each

aaarg_ink — 2006-12-20T03:46:41+00:00

mary ... has posted a 2-player Trias with a 3rd-player/dummy in the general section of this forum. It seems promising even though I haven't tried it out yet

for what its worth, I'm not deleting this post only because i didn't find the other post first and hope this point someone the right direction.

Thread: Re: 2-Player Variant

aaarg_ink — 2006-12-20T03:40:01+00:00

this sounds fun, just one question for now...would you play with the normal rules of scoring for new continents during the game?

Thread: 2-player trias with 2 herds each

aaarg_ink — 2006-12-20T03:32:31+00:00

I've played trias in primarily the standard 2 player variant with a g/f who is not the most fond of gaming in general....I'm intrigued with the variant proposed by vonyix and was wondering if there was any consensus as to whether it would be a good idea as opposed to the rule book variant.

The vonyix 2-player variant is that each of the two players plays 2 colors, victory is determined by each player's lower scoring color.

Thread: Re: I don't understand example 2.

gesa — 2006-11-27T03:29:01+00:00

Yep, I just came looking for the answer to that question, too. Guess it is not all that clear in the rules.

delirimouse wrote:
Thanks, I came here specifically to ask this question, and it was already answered!

Thread: Re: All Phases at once or alternately?

ghcstr — 2006-11-19T00:19:09+00:00

OK, disregard this question, I found the answer at http://geckogames.spieleck.de/en/trias/faq.html#FRA003

All turns are taken at once by each player before moving on to the next!

Thread: All Phases at once or alternately?

ghcstr — 2006-11-19T00:17:06+00:00

Do all four phases (from Mandatory Drift thru Drawing a Card Phase) take place alternately or does each player do their entire turn before going to the next player?

So, would I drift, then take my 4 actions then get my swimmers followed by drawing a card as applicable?

Or, do I drift then another player drifts until it gets back to me, then I take my 4 actions followed by everone else 4 actions, etc....?

Thanks in advance!

Thread: Re: Dino Meeples

BugLaden — 2006-10-17T11:00:03+00:00

Excellent! I was merely going on the pictures. Thanks for the clarification!

So there are no other differences than between the english and german versions?

Thread: Re: Dino Meeples

Michael Ward — 2006-10-17T07:44:33+00:00

Actually, they're not the same. The amphibians in Trias are about half the size of the ones in Urland. And that's good, because the hexes in Trias are rather small.

Thread: Dino Meeples

BugLaden — 2006-10-16T13:44:36+00:00

I notice that the English version of this games uses the "Ichtos" pieces from Urland. Other than the Ichtos...err Dino meeples, are there any other differences in the English version from the German version?

Thread: Re: Trias: my view.

Solamar — 2006-10-04T23:51:19+00:00

Nice review. Also see my player aid which is a large map to show distance from the volcano. It makes play easier.

Thread: Trias: my view.

RobM — 2006-10-03T21:21:41+00:00

Trias: my view.

Preamble:
Trias is a game for 2-5 players about dinosaurs fighting to survive mass extinction and continental drift. I have to confess to buying this game solely based on seeing the box. I hadn’t read anything about it before I purchased it (a rare occurrence), but since I’m a Geologist, the theme was certainly appealing.

Components:
Trias comes in a relatively small box, but given the relatively small components, the box could have been half the size (which would have made it even more ideal as a travel game). In this case, small is beautiful. The game comes with 39 hexagonal landscape tiles (mountains, steppes, forests, water and the South Pole). The artwork on these is slightly cartoon-like, but very attractive. There are 80 wooden dinosaurs (16 each in yellow, blue, red purple and black). There are 39 cards split into 2 ages that feature mountains, steppes and forests and use the same artwork as the tiles. In addition, there is a meteor card and five rules summary cards. Finally, there is a scoring track featuring 30 dinosaur footprints. The rulebook is a simple but reasonably well laid out black and white affair. Overall, although the game is relatively small and light, the components are very nice indeed.

Gameplay:
To set up the starting board, the South Pile is placed in the centre and 2 water tiles are set aside. The remaining terrain tiles are shuffled and 16 of these then picked out at random and shuffled again with the 2 water tiles, face down. These 18 face down tiles are then used to form two rings of tiles around the South Pole. Finally, the remaining tiles are used to form a third ring around the outside. Once the board is completed, all the tiles are flipped over, and unused tiles are returned to the box. The two water tiles are then removed and returned to the box, leaving two gaps in the board. During the game, all empty spaces, gaps and border areas are considered to be water.

Next the cards are separated into two ages, shuffled separately and then the age 1 cards placed on top of the age 2 cards to create a deck. Each player takes 1 card from the deck and 16 dinosaurs. One of the dinosaurs is placed on the scoring track. To set up, each player in turn places two of their dinosaurs onto one empty tile. Once all players have placed 2 dinosaurs, this process is repeated until all players have placed two pairs. The game is now ready to play.

Each player takes 4 actions, and then play moves to the next player. The four actions are:

(1) Required Drift: the player must either play a card from his/her hand or draw and play the top card from the deck. He/she must then drift one landscape tile of the type shown on the card played. When the meteor strike card is drawn, it signifies the last round of the game. There are several restrictions on the Required Drift. The tile to be drifted must be a tile that borders the open sea (not an inner lake) and it may be moved anywhere that is further away from the South Pole than its current position, provided it has at least one edge bordering the open sea. A player may only drift a tile from a continent that contains at least one of his/her dinosaurs. The tile must remain part of the same continent that it begins on, although it is possible for drift to split a continent into two or more, in which case it can be placed as part of either of these continents. Reconnection of two continents is also possible. A player may drift a tile with dinosaurs on, but if so, they remain in this location and are dumped into the ocean to become swimmers. If a tile is drifted to a location containing swimmers, those dinosaurs are picked up and placed onto the tile. Occasionally there will not be a tile that can be drifted, in which case the player must either draw and play a card (if he/she hasn’t done so already) or drift a tile of his/her choice. The South Pole never drifts.

If drifting a tile creates one or more new continents, scoring occurs.

(2) Optional Actions: the player has 4 action points to use on optional actions. Actions can be undertaken in any order, and may be repeated. Unused action points are lost. The actions are: drift any one landscape tile (3 points); migrate 1 dinsosaur to 1 adjacent tile (1 point); rescue up to any 3 swimmers to adjacent land tiles (1 point); Reproduce by adding one dinosaur to a tile already containing one or more dinosaurs (1 point). Reproduction may occur before or after migration. Offspring may not reproduce in the turn they are born.

There are landscape tile limits that must be observed. The total number of dinosaurs (of any colour) that a tile can accommodate is: 2 in mountains; 3 in steppes and South Pole; 4 in forest. This limit restricts reproduction and movement (and filled tiles may therefore act as blockades in some circumstances).

(3) Swimmers and Overpopulation: Any dinosaurs still swimming or any overpopulation are now removed back to the player’s supply. Overpopulation is possible because a drifted tile can be placed so as to rescue swimmers, the number of which may exceed the limit for that particular terrain.

(4) Card Draw: if the player played the card from his hand in phase 1, he/she now draws the top card from the deck. If the meteor strike card is drawn, the last round begins.

The meteor strike spells the end for the dinosaurs (and the game). If it is drawn on phase 1, the last round begins and each player takes a turn. If it is drawn on phase 4, the drawing player has finished and the next player begins the last round. The last round has no Required Drift phase and only 2 action points are available.

There are two types of scoring:

(1) Scoring when a new continent is created after drift: If a tile is moved such that it creates a new continent that is separate from the South Pole continent, the new continent containing the drifting tile is scored. The player(s) with the most dinosaurs on the continent score 2 points and the player(s) with the second most dinosaurs score(s) 1 point.
(2) Final scoring: each continent except the one containing the South Pole is scored, with all fractions rounded up. The player with the most dinosaurs in a continent scores 1 point for each tile in that continent and the player with the second most dinosaurs on a continent scores half that number. If two players tie with the most herds, the points for having the most and second most are tallied and then the total halved, with each player scoring that amount. If two players tie with the second most herds, they simply divide the second place points between them.

Points are recorded on the scoring track. The player with the most points is the winner. Ties are broken in favour of player with the most dinosaurs left in their supply.

If there are just 3 players, one card of each landscape type is removed from the 1st age deck. If there are only 2 players, dinosaurs, landscape tiles, cards, and action points are reduced and only final scoring occurs.

So What Do I Think?
I like Trias a lot. The theme is great fun and drifting a tile to dump your opponent’s dinosaurs into the drink is very satisfying! Any game that encourages people to engage with geology is fine by me. Overall, I give it a very commendable 7 out of 10. The one gripe I have with the game is that it really helps to be able to see patterns. Unfortunately (and unusually for a geologist), I have difficulty visualising patterns or 3D and hence I don’t tend to very well. My wife (also a geologist) is extremely good at seeing patterns (and 3D) and she tends to trounce me! Having said that, I still like the game. It is relatively quick to play (generally 30-60 minutes) and it is my favourite tile laying game.

Thread: Re: 2-Player Variant

michaelar — 2006-10-02T00:16:19+00:00

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to chime in that this is definitely the best two-player variant. My wife and I have now played with the official two-player rules (too quick), the two-colors-each rules (too long), and now this variant.

Each of the first two times it felt a bit frustrating, like we really should be enjoying the game, but weren't quite. But Mary's variant adroitly balances the game's simplicity/complexity and allows us to enjoy the "full" game. Other games (Alhambra, Web of Power, et al.) use similar optional dummy-third-player rules and I'm starting to think this is the two-player variant method of choice for games that really hit their stride with three players. Now I finally see why Trias is one of your faves.

Thanks again, Mary!

Michael
(the BoardGameSearch guy)