Triad (RDM)

For the article on the athletic sport known as "Triad" in the Original series, see Triad (TOS).

Helo, Boomer and Starbuck (foreground, back to viewer) in a game of Full Colors

Triad is a type of bluffing card game similar to poker played in the Twelve Colonies. The hexagonal card faces are abstract symbols that are not yet explained in the series. The back of the cards show a large star surrounded by a border with smaller stars.

"Full Colors" is the name of the highest winning hand in the game. Players declare their hands after betting is concluded, or "fold" (resign) depending on the cards they were dealt.

Possible Winning Hands

• "full colors": highest hand (Water)
• "prince high red": beats three up (Flight of the Phoenix)
• "three up": less than three up, but likely relatively high (Flight of the Phoenix)
• "3 on a run": unknown placement, relatively high (Water)

Notes

• This card game was to be named identically to a similar card game found in the Original Series, called "Pyramid". However, the name was mistakenly switched with the one of the basketball/rugby type-game, which is called "Triad" in the Original Series, but is now "Pyramid" in the Re-Imagined Series.
• According to actor Leo Chiang, the production team has not come up with any specific rules for the game and the actors improvise it.
• In the comic "Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero 3", Full Major is a high-hand in this game, but is inferior to the highest hand, Full Colors.

See also

• Dead Man's Chest, another card game
• Pyramid (TOS), the corresponding card game in the Original Series
• Pyramid (RDM), a ball game in the Re-imagined Series

Re-imagined Series definition: visual indicator used in a battlestar's Instrument Landing System during a hands-on approach (TRS: "Miniseries", "Act of Contrition", "Final Cut", "Black Market")