What is Triple?
In Triple every player has three score columns side by side instead of one. Each column is a full score sheet, and the game goes on until every box of every column is filled: 39 rounds on the classic sheet, three times the usual 13. After your last roll you choose both the box and the column to score in.
At the end the first column counts at face value, the second is doubled and the third is tripled. Each column earns its own upper bonus, which is multiplied with the rest of the column, so a 35-point bonus is worth 105 in the third column. The game rewards planning: big scores belong in the third column, while a column worth only one times its points is the place for zeros and weak rolls. Triple works with all three sheets (classic, Yatzy and six dice) and with the forced order and joker options.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Five Dice | Triple |
|---|---|---|
| Score sheet | Standard Five DiceOne column: each box is filled once. | TripleThree columns: each box is filled once in each column. After your last roll you choose the box and the column. |
| Length of the game | Standard Five DiceOne round per box: 13 on the classic sheet, 15 on the Yatzy sheet, 20 with six dice. | TripleThree times as many: 39 on the classic sheet, 45 on the Yatzy sheet, 60 with six dice. |
| Final score | Standard Five DiceThe total of the column, with its upper bonus and any five-of-a-kind bonuses. | TripleThe first column counts once, the second twice and the third three times; their sum, plus any five-of-a-kind bonuses, is the final score. |
| Upper bonus | Standard Five DiceOne bonus for reaching the bar in Ones to Sixes: 35 for 63 on the classic sheet. | TripleEach column earns its own bonus, multiplied with its column: on the classic sheet 35, 70 or 105. |
| Extra five of a kind (classic sheet) | Standard Five DiceEach extra five of a kind earns 100 while the five-of-a-kind box holds 50. | TripleNo bonus until all three five-of-a-kind boxes hold 50. From then on every five of a kind earns one, wherever you enter it, worth 100 times the multiplier of that column. A zero in any five-of-a-kind box means no bonus. |
| Other options | Standard Five DiceForced order and the joker options apply to the single column. | TripleWith forced order each column fills from top to bottom on its own, and you choose which column takes the roll. A joker starts only once all three five-of-a-kind boxes are filled. |
History
The three-column game was the first spin-off of the American five-dice game sold since 1956. It was launched in 1972 and went on being published in the United States and in Europe; rules dated 1978 and later editions survive. In 1975 it was the basis of an American television game show.
The published sheet has 13 boxes in each of three columns, with the second column doubled and the third tripled, and each column's upper bonus counted with its column. An extra five of a kind is recorded in the column it is entered in, so its 100 points are multiplied too. The bonuses start only once all three five-of-a-kind boxes are filled with 50.