Troika

About this board game

Troika is a 20-minute tile-collecting game for 2–5 players, released in 2017, about combining star-found stones into fuel and valuable jewels.

Not far in the future, a stone is discovered inside a star. More stones follow, and adventurers learn that combining three in the right way creates a precious jewel. The same stones can also be combined differently to produce fuel.

You are one of the wanderers who has travelled to the star hoping to make a fortune. Unfortunately, your spacecraft has no fuel left. Creating a jewel may bring wealth, but failing to create fuel means you will die at the end of the universe—even if you are the richest player.

To begin, place all the heptagonal tiles face down on the table. On each turn, choose between drawing a face-down tile or taking a face-up tile that another player has returned to the table.

• Collect three tiles with the same number to create fuel.
• Collect three tiles in numerical order to transform them into a jewel.

These two goals create the central tension of every expedition. You need fuel to remain eligible to win, while your jewel determines how valuable your final fortune can be.

At the end of Troika, any player without fuel cannot win. Among the players who have created fuel, the adventurer with the most valuable jewel claims victory, making every draw and every available face-up tile matter.