Ternia

Ternia is a pure strategy duel for two players played on a 3x3 board. Each player controls nine tokens – three circles, three triangles, and three squares – and the goal is to be the first to align three identical pieces horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. What makes it special is that the pieces are not randomly distributed; before the game starts, each player shuffles the opponent’s pieces and creates a face‑down stack. Only the top card is revealed, keeping the rest hidden. On each turn, a player can either pass or place the top token from the stack onto the board. If desired, the token can capture an existing piece, but only following a strict cyclic hierarchy: triangle covers circle, circle covers square, and square covers triangle. When a piece is covered, it is removed from play and returned to the owner’s discard pile. If the draw stack runs out, the discard pile becomes the new draw stack, ensuring no piece is permanently eliminated. The game ends immediately when a player completes a line of three identical tokens. This blend of strategic capture, hidden card memory, and the need to anticipate moves makes Ternia a fast, engaging challenge, ideal for fans of logic games and quick thinking.