Tres
by

3–10 players · 3 rounds

The Highway Code

You already know this game. Here is what is different: everything comes in threes.

  1. Seven cards each

    One card is turned to start the road. If it is a sign it goes back under and another is turned, so nobody is hit with a penalty before their first go. Play starts to the left of the dealer and runs clockwise.

  2. Match the road

    Play one card that matches the top of the road by its colour, its number or its symbol. A roundabout goes anywhere and you pick the colour. Playable cards lift; everything else dims.

  3. Or drop a triple

    Three cards of the same number, in any colours, play as ONE card — legal whenever one of the three would be legal on its own. The last one laid sets the colour, and the next player draws three.

  4. Nothing playable? Draw one

    If what you draw can be played, you may lay it straight away, or keep it. If it cannot, your go is over. There is no drawing for fun: with something playable in hand you have to play it.

  5. Shout at 3

    When a play leaves you holding three cards, a TRES button lights on your phone and a CATCH button lights on everybody else's. First message to the room wins. Caught before you call and you draw 3. Nobody catches you before the next player acts and you are safe.

  6. Out, and the count-up

    First to play their last card ends the round and banks the value of everyone else's leftovers. If that last card was a speed camera or a Third Degree, the penalty still lands first. 3 rounds; only the player who goes out scores.

The signs

  • No entry

    Skip. The next player misses a go.

  • U-turn

    Reverse. The direction of play flips. With only two players still in, it acts as a No Entry.

  • Speed camera

    Draw 3. The next player takes three and misses a go. Speed cameras do not stack — there is no answering one.

  • Roundabout

    Wild. Goes on anything, and you choose the colour that follows it. The only blue card in the game.

  • Third Degree

    Three points on your licence: choose the colour AND the next player draws three — unless they play their own, which passes the pile on. It caps at 3 deep, so whoever cannot answer draws nine.

  • A triple

    Three of a number, any colours, laid as one card. The next player draws 3 but keeps their go.

What a leftover card costs

Numbers
Their face value: a 7 is seven.
No entry, U-turn, speed camera
Twenty each. A sign left in your hand hurts.
Roundabout
Thirty. Useful right up until the counting starts.
Third Degree
Fifty, which is the most expensive card in the deck and exactly why you play it rather than hold it.

House rules

  • Every turn has a clock — twenty seconds by default, and the host can set fifteen or thirty. When it runs out you draw one and pass; it never plays a card for you.
  • Three expiries in a row and your seat is skipped until you tap I'm back. Your hand stays on the table and still counts at the end of the round.
  • Leave mid-round and your seat is skipped, your hand held. Come back and you get both. Still gone at the end and your hand scores to whoever went out.
  • Ties go to the most rounds won, and then to whoever was holding the fewest cards when the last round ended.

On a keyboard

Arrow keys move along your hand and Enter plays what is staged. T stages a triple from the card you are on, D draws, Space calls TRES or CATCH, and 1 2 3 pick a colour after a roundabout.

Start a game