Explain this
Triolet
How the publisher describes it:
“Anyone who can count up to fifteen can play - the goal is to make 3 tiles in a row add up to fifteen. Score double or triple points by landing on the special squares and the highest score wins. Successful play demands continuous calculation and the best tactics mean that players must look for opportunities in two dimensions. A game of simple arithmetic with elements of observation and strategy too. The games helps children and those wishing to develop skills in numbers. A fun and easy to learn game that lasts around 35-45 minutes.”
Review by Pete Lane
In brief:
My own kids (aged 9 and 11) picked up the game very quickly and enjoyed playing it, whilst groups of Year 8 and Year 10 students in school had no trouble in setting up the game themselves without any support. Games take between 30 minutes and an hour.
“Won the Golden Ace Award at the 1996 International Festival of Games in Cannes”
When the call went out for someone to review a ‘scrabble-like maths game from France’, I quickly decided that this was for me! I enjoy playing board games, both with my own kids at home and within ‘fun maths sessions’ at school and appreciate the educational value, as well as fun and aspect aspects, of such playing games.
So, what about Triolet? Well, it is good fun to play, requires a reasonable amount of thinking without needing specialist knowledge and doesn’t take three hours to complete.
Produced in France by DJ Games, Triolet is distributed in the UK by Coiled Spring Games, a great company specialising in similar games such as Tantrix. Triolet is not new - it won the Golden Ace Award at the 1996 International Festival of Games in Cannes - but is only just becoming well known in the UK.
The easiest description of the game is ‘scrabble with numbers’. You have a gridded board and a bag of 81 numbered tiles. The task, for up to 4 players, is to make sets of three tiles sum to 15. This is a fun way of developing mental calculation and observations skills. In addition, bonus score opportunities and the ability to score in two dimensions add a strategic and tactical element to the game, along with a keen competitive edge.
Triolet is recommended for age 8+. My own kids (aged 9 and 11) picked up the game very quickly and enjoyed playing it, whilst groups of Year 8 and Year 10 students in school had no trouble in setting up the game themselves without any support. Games take between 30 minutes and an hour.
The game arrives with simple rules in both French and English, including plenty of diagrams of example game layouts. There is also a useful website dedicated to the game, including help for schools wanting to organise Triolet tournaments. They even provide a link to the ATM website! All in all, a great addition to the games box at home and at school.
Now, who covered that Triple Points square whilst I wasn’t looking..?
Pete Lane • Second in Maths and e-Learning Manager<br />Swinton Community School Maths and Computing College
Triolet
Distributed by: coiledspring.co.uk
