Rules
Triad Hunt is a pattern-spotting game, played on The Genius under the name Gyul! Hap!. Every card has three features, and each feature has three options:
- Shape: circle, square or triangle
- Shape colour: red, yellow or blue
- Background: black, white or grey
That makes 27 possible cards. A round uses nine different cards laid out in a 3x3 grid.
What counts as a Hap
Look at three cards one feature at a time. For each feature, the three cards must be either all the same or all different. If that holds for shape, shape colour and background, the three cards are a Hap.
- A Hap: a red circle on black, a red square on white and a red triangle on grey. The shape colour is the same on all three, while shapes and backgrounds are all different.
- Not a Hap: a red circle on black, a red square on black and a blue triangle on grey. Two shapes are red and one is blue, so shape colour fails.
Calling Gyul
“Gyul” means you believe every Hap in the grid has been found. A correct Gyul ends the round. A wrong one is punished, so it pays to be certain.
On the show
On The Genius, two players took turns calling Haps. A valid new Hap scored a point and let the player go again, while a wrong or repeated one cost a point. A correct Gyul was worth 3 points. In Season 3 the game appeared as a solo Black Mission, where calling Gyul before every Hap was found meant instant failure.
Our version
Solo (Daily and Practice)
- Find every Hap, then call Gyul. Your score is your time.
- A wrong or repeated Hap adds 10 seconds.
- Calling Gyul while Haps are left ends the run as a failure, as in the Season 3 Black Mission.
- Every grid has between 2 and 6 Haps.
- The Daily grid is the same for everyone each day.
Vs AI (show rules)
- A coin flip picks who starts. The starting player alternates each round.
- On your turn, a valid new Hap scores +1 and you keep the turn. A wrong or repeated Hap scores -1 and the turn passes.
- You have 10 seconds per call (20 on easy), or the turn passes.
- A correct Gyul scores +3 and ends the round. A wrong Gyul scores -1 and the turn passes.
- Five passes in a row with no call end the round.
- A match is 5 rounds (3 in Quick mode). If the score is tied after the last round, one extra round is played. If it is still tied, the game is a draw.
- The number of Haps left is never shown.
Accessibility: the colour-blind setting adds letters to shape colours and patterns to backgrounds.
Strategy
Think in pairs. Any two cards point to exactly one card that would complete a Hap. Pick a pair, work out the missing card, and check whether it is on the grid. That is much faster than staring at three cards at once.
Work through the grid in order. Nine cards make 36 pairs. Anchoring on one card and pairing it with each of the others in turn means you never wonder whether you skipped a combination.
Check one feature at a time. Read shape, then shape colour, then background. Most wrong calls come from a “two and one” split on a feature you glanced over.
Group by a feature. Sort the grid in your head by background, for example. Three cards with the same background only need the other two features checked.
Do not rush Gyul. In solo play an early Gyul throws away the whole run, while a careful final sweep only costs a few seconds. Against the AI, a wrong Gyul hands over the turn.
Keep the turn against the AI. Every correct Hap lets you call again. If you spot two Haps, say the one you are most sure of first, so a mistake does not cost you the second.