Triggs
Triggs Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
108 cards with values from 1-12 (9 cards per value), 1 score pad.
Warning: each score sheet has 2 tables on each side. Each player will only need one table per game.
During the game, players will cross off numbers on their table. In order to maintain a proper overview, you should cross them off from left to right (see example).
Setup
Each player receives a pencil and a score sheet. Shuffle the 108 cards. Each player receives 5 cards as their starting hand. Using the remaining cards, create three draw piles and place them next to each other in the middle of the table. The center pile is placed face down, and the outside piles are placed face up. Only the top number is visible on each of the face-up piles.
Note: the center pile should noticeably contain more cards than the outside piles, but the exact number of cards is not important.
(Left pile, face-down pile, right pile.)
How to Play
Randomly determine a starting player. On your turn, you must choose one of the following three actions. Then, the next player in clockwise order takes their turn by choosing one of the three actions. Players keep taking turns like this as the game progresses.
Action A: Drawing Cards
Draw 2 cards and put them in your hand. You can choose to draw them from the same pile or from different piles.
Example: Tim has 5 cards in his hand. He draws one face-down card from the center pile and one face-up card from the left pile.
Careful: there's a hand limit! You can only have a maximum of 10 cards in your hand. If you already have 10 cards, you're not allowed to choose action A. If you have 9 cards, you can only draw one card.
Action B: Discarding Cards
Discard as many cards of one value as you like from your hand, onto the discard pile next to the play area. You're not allowed to discard cards of different values.
Example: Sarah discards two value 9 cards, placing them on the discard pile.
Action C: Crossing Off
Choose one value and tell the other players you're about to cross it off on your table. Mary says: "I'm crossing off 11s!"
Place cards that match this total value face up in front of you. You're allowed to create this value using one card or the sum of two cards, but never more than two cards! You can create the value as many times as you like in order to draw multiple crosses. All the cards you used are placed on the discard pile next to the play area.
Example: Mary plays two single 11s. She also creates two 11s through the sum of two cards (7+4 and 10+1). She crosses off 4 spaces in the 11 row of her table.
Very important: if you cross off the last space in any row of your table, you immediately get to cross off an extra space in another row of your choice (which is a good thing!). You don't have to play a card for this extra cross.
Example: Tim announces: "I'm crossing off 7s!" He plays a single 7, and two combinations (5+2). He crosses off all three empty spaces in his 7 row and immediately receives an extra cross. He places it in his 9 row.
Note: it's possible and very much allowed (and of course very satisfying) to create a chain reaction of extra crosses. Sarah crosses off the last space in her 10 row and immediately receives an extra cross. She places this extra cross in her 8 row, which is now also full. She receives another extra cross and places it in her 5 row.
There's no limit to the number of chain reactions you can create. It's even possible to create eleven consecutive extra crosses, filling up all your rows and winning the game in style.
Note: if, for example, there are only two available spaces left in a row, you're only allowed to play the amount of cards necessary to cross off two spaces in that row. In other words, you're not allowed to create numbers you're unable to cross off (in order to get rid of unwanted cards).
No Hand Cards Left
If after Action B or C you don't have any hand cards left, you must draw immediately 5 new cards from the face-down pile.
Note: deliberately emptying your hand is a good tactic to speed up the game. During the game, you constantly have to assess which option is best: collecting lots of cards for more flexibility, or rushing to empty your hand.
Empty Piles
If during the game one of the three draw piles is emptied, the game is briefly paused. Shuffle the cards in the common discard pile and refill the empty pile accordingly.
Note: for the sake of ease, you can also choose to refill the other piles, even though they're not empty yet. In that case, just slide some cards under them.
Removing Value 12 Cards
Towards the end of the game, it could happen that all players have completely crossed off the 12 row on their table. This means the value 12 cards have become obsolete. If this happens, any value 12 cards that are revealed on top of one of the two face-up piles are immediately removed from the game and returned to the box.
Note: value 12 cards that are still in your hand can still be discarded using action B (just discard them to the box instead). If after the value 12 cards have become obsolete, the same thing happens to the value 11 cards, go through the same process with them. All other card values (1-10) stay in the game no matter what.
Winning
The first player to cross off all the numbers on their table wins!