Threezy

Threezy displays nine cards and asks you to spot three that form a triplet. Each card has three properties (shape, color and shading), and a triplet is valid when, for each of the three properties, the three cards are either all identical or all different. The site guarantees there is always at least one valid triplet on the board. A tab bar at the top of the board offers several ways to play the same rule, timed or not, and the current mode's counter is shown next to a stopwatch measuring tenths of a second. The help panel also contains a key map that projects the nine cards onto a block of nine keys, and a set of palettes designed for color blindness. Threezy states it is an independent project, with no link to the publisher of the card game SET from which it borrows the pattern idea.

1. Choose a tab at the top of the board: the race to ten triplets, the two-minute timed game, or the endless mode.
2. Tap three cards that, property by property, are either all the same or all different. The keyboard does the same: each key of the nine-key block corresponds to a position on the board.
3. Chain selections until you meet the mode's objective; note that a hint button reveals a triplet and costs five seconds in timed modes.

Threezy's rule fits on a single sentence and is still not easy to apply: "all same or all different," repeated three times, across three properties to monitor at once. What distinguishes this version is the error message, which names the faulty property instead of merely refusing. You learn from your mistakes, which is rare in a speed game. The rest follows: multiple formats using the same rule, from a two-minute sprint to the endless mode, a shared daily board for comparison, a keyboard shortcut that turns the mouse into a handicap, and palettes adapted for color blindness where color is precisely one of the things to judge.

This is the game's strong point: Threezy doesn't just say no, it explains why. When a selection is wrong, a line appears under the board naming the faulty property and reminding the rule, “✗ colour: need 3 the same or 3 different”. The triplet counter itself does not move, and the stopwatch keeps running during the error. The palettes in the help panel, including three versions adapted for red-green and blue-yellow color blindness, exist precisely because color is one of the three properties to judge.

Course aux dix triplets

The tab opened by default: find ten triplets as quickly as possible, with a counter out of ten and a stopwatch measuring tenths of a second. The page invites you to beat your best time.

Deux minutes

The timed game: how many triplets in one hundred and twenty seconds on the day's shared board, with a result to compare and share.

Flow

The endless mode, presented by the site as the relaxed mode, with its chains, sprints and a table of the longest chain.

Race 10

A fourth tab appears in the mode bar under this name.

• There is always at least one valid triplet on the board, the site assures. When nothing jumps out, it isn't the board that's stuck, it's your view: changing which property you start with, shape rather than color, usually frees things up.
• In timed mode, the hint is not free: it costs five seconds. Compare that honestly to the time you just lost staring at the same nine cards.
• The keyboard outperforms the mouse once you're racing the clock. The block of nine keys, on the left or on the numeric keypad, reproduces the card layout exactly.
• If color is the criterion that trips you up, the help panel offers several palettes, including versions for red-green and blue-yellow color blindness, and a fully customizable palette.