How to play
The whole rule takes about a minute to learn.
Threezy is a free pattern recognition puzzle in the spirit of the classic card game SET. Every card has three features, and your job is to spot groups of three cards that follow one simple rule. It is a visual logic game rather than a word or trivia game, so it plays the same in any language.
The three features
Each card carries exactly three features:
- Shape — triangle, circle or square
- Color — red, green or blue
- Fill — solid, empty or striped
The rule
Three cards make a set when, for each of the three features separately, the cards are either all the same or all different.
Every feature is judged on its own. Shape can be all-same while color is all-different — that is still a valid set. What is never allowed is two of one value and one of another.
Worked examples
- Shape: all the same (circle)
- Color: all different (red, green, blue)
- Fill: all the same (solid)
- Shape: all different (triangle, circle, square)
- Color: all different (red, green, blue)
- Fill: all different (solid, empty, striped)
- Shape: all the same (square) — fine
- Fill: all the same (empty) — fine
- Color: two red and one green — this breaks the rule, so the whole triple fails
The mistake almost everyone makes first
Two of one thing and one of another. It feels close, because two cards match so neatly, but “nearly all the same” is not one of the two legal states. If any single feature shows a 2–1 split, the triple is not a set, no matter how well the other two features line up.
How to get faster
The trick experienced players use: pick two cards and work out the third. For any pair of cards there is exactly one card in the whole deck that completes them into a set — for each feature, either match it (if the pair matches) or take the one remaining value (if the pair differs). Once you know what you are hunting for, you scan for that one card instead of checking combinations three at a time.
There is always at least one valid set on the board, so a board is never impossible — only hard.
Where to play
- The daily puzzle — one shared board a day, the same for everyone, so results are comparable.
- Daily 10 — find ten sets as fast as you can on today’s board.
- 2-minute sprint — how many can you find before the clock runs out?
- Flow — endless and untimed, for practice without pressure.
- Past daily boards — previous winners and country champions.
Questions
What counts as a set?
Three cards form a set when each of the three features — shape, color and fill — is either all the same across the three cards, or all different. A feature that shows exactly two of one value and one of another breaks the rule.
Is there always a set on the board?
Yes. Threezy always deals a board that contains at least one valid set, so you are never stuck looking at an impossible position.
What is the most common beginner mistake?
Two of one thing and one of another. Two red cards and one green is not all-same and not all-different, so it fails, even when every other feature lines up perfectly.
Do I need to know the card game SET to play?
No. Threezy is a pattern recognition puzzle you can learn in under a minute from the examples on this page. It is inspired by the all-same-or-all-different idea and shares no artwork or branding with any other game.
How do I get faster at spotting sets?
Pick two cards, then work out the one card that would complete them — for any pair there is exactly one card that does. Scanning for that specific card is much faster than checking every possible combination of three.
Threezy is an independent puzzle and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Set Enterprises, Inc. SET is a trademark of its respective owner and is referred to here only to describe the kind of puzzle this is.