Getting Started

Triple Triad is the mini game found in Final Fantasy VIII. Though it is not the first mini game in the Final Fantasy series, it is perhaps the most popular one.
To get started in Triple Triad, you will need at least five cards. There are two ways to go about getting some. The easiest way is to speak to the guy on the second floor hallway, inside Balamb Garden. He will hand you over 5 level 1 cards. You can also obtain them after battles. It is far easier to get them from the guy right now. The cards he gives you are no where near wonderful. But be patient, the good ones will come. Once you obtain the Card ability from Quezacotl, you can get more cards, by turning your enemies into them.

The best way to get good cards early, is to learn the "Card" ability before going to the Fire Cavern. Once you defeat Ifrit, and get his card, spend time turning Bombs into cards. Get about five of them, and you should be OK. You can also get a Krysta card from Buels on a rare occasion. But it is rare.
To turn your enemy into a card, they must be under 1/2 their HP. so try to do some damage, but not enough to kill them.

Basics

The game board is divided into nine squares. You choose five cards from your deck to play, and the computer will choose five from theirs. The object of the game is to turn as many of the opponents cards over. In the beginning, the rules make it pretty easy to do this. As the game progresses, you will find different rules, that make this a very challenging game to play. It can get a bit frustrating even. But let us work on the basics to start.
When you begin playing in Balamb Garden, you will have these rules:
Open
Trade Rule 1
Open means simply that you can see the AI's cards, and they can see yours. Right now that is no big, but later on, that can pose some difficulty.
The trade rules are what you get at the end of the game, if you win the match. 1 means you get to choose one card from your opponents deck if you win. They get to do the same if they win. There are other trade rules in Triple Triad, but we will get to those later.
OK, take a look at any card. You will see four numbers in the top left corner of the card. These numbers go from 1-A, and represent the sides of the cards. For example, Seifer's numbers are 6, 4, 9, and A. The top is 6, the bottom is A, the left is 4, and the right is 9. In the example to the left, a Trauma card was placed in the top left corner. With a bottom number of 5, the Seifer card can flip it over with a top number of 6. As you can see, placing the Seifer card below also made it almost impossible for the opponent to flip it over. 9 and A are the highest numbers in the game. Without any type of rare card, it cannot be flipped over. This brings me to the next tip: Play the corners. Make sure you place cards, where they are nearly impossible to be flipped over. Corners are great, because it causes your opponent to play into the middle, where you can easily take them. Also, once you get a good enough deck, you will want to play the higher numbers. Your GF, and Character cards are the best to play with the basic rules. You can simply overpower their cards to win. But there are far more rules than these.

More rules

When you get going in the game, you will find there are quite a few different rules hanging around. And yes, these rules can spread into other regions. The game actually sets it up to where you do that. Every time you are asked to add rules from a different area, or mix the rules, you are spreading them. Once you say yes, the rules of the mixed areas will be applied to the game. Once the first few games are over, they will either keep or discard a new rule, and play with the rest. If you do not want the rules to spread, simply decline to play, until they just ask to play cards.
Here are some of the first few rules you will encounter: Elemental
Sudden Death
Trade Rule: All
Trade Rule: Diff
Trade Rule: Direct
Elemental - If you look at the screen to the left, you will notice small icons set on the board. These are elemental icons. Some cards such as the Ifrit card, has a elemental icon on it. If you place the card on a icon that is the same as the one on the card, all the numbers increase by 1 point. That said, if you place a card on a icon that does not match or have a icon, the numbers decrease by 1 point. In the Screen, you will notice the Squall card has a -1 on the card. This is due to me placing it on a elemental icon, without their being a matching one on the card. So when you get into this rule, it is good to place a few elemental cards in your hand.
Sudden death - Sudden Death means that if neither side wins, you will continue to play, until one does. There is also sometimes a card gets swapped between you and your opponent. But you will keep your cards that are swapped, unless they are chosen by the opponent if they win.
Trade Rule: Diff - This trade rule means that you get to choose the amount of cards equal to the difference in the winning and losing score. So if you win the game with 7-3, you will get to take 4 cards, 6-4 will net you 2 cards, etc. The same goes if the opponent wins.
Trade Rule: All - This trade rule means the winner will get the entire hand, no matter how many cards are turned over. This may seem really nice to have, but remember that the opponent wins the entire hand as well.
Trade Rule: Direct - This one sucks. No matter who wins, each player takes the cards they flipped over. The only time you do not get the card you flipped over, is if it is flipped back over by the opponent. I have only seen this rule one time, and I hated it. If you think keeping up with these rules are difficult, wait until you get to the pros in the game of Triple Triad...

Challenging Rules

There are even more challenging rules than the ones mentioned above. They are the ones you really do not want to spread around the world. They are:
Random
Same
Plus
Same Wall
These rules can be killers to even the most experienced of players. There are only a few times where you have no choice but to play with these rules. The Card Queen quest, Edea, Selphie's friend in Trabia Garden, Piet and Ellone on the Lunar Base, and the Card Queen on Disk 4. Each of these times will give you a rare card, but they will not change the rules. To get the rules back to normal, you need to return to Balamb Garden before Disk 3, or challenge Spade on the Ragnarok on Disk 4. Simply decline the game, until they stop asking to mix the rules. Otherwise you will spread these rules, and that can spell your doom. Though I know the rules, and more often than not win, I still get taken easily if I am not careful. Hopefully, by explaining the way to use these rules, I can help anyone out there who is having difficulty with them.
Random - This rule means that your cards are chosen by the AI. This is not good in the sense that you no longer have the ability to overpower your opponent with stronger cards. More times than not you are only given one or two good cards, and the rest are level 3 or lower. Good luck on winning.
Same - This rule means that you can flip two cards over, if the numbers on the opposing cards match the ones on your card. In the example screen, you see there is a Fujin/Raijin card, a space, and a Ruby Dragon card. The Fujin has a 8 facing the center, and the Ruby Dragon has a 4 facing the center. By placing my Propagator card in the middle, I can flip them both over, cause my side numbers match both theirs. This is not a easy thing to do, since by th time this rule comes in, your playing smart as heck opponents. Also, if you flip a card and it is adjacent to another card with a lower number, a combo will occur. Anytime there is a same effect, you can combo. So lets say for instance, I flipped the Ruby Dragon over. If there is a card above or below with a smaller number than 7, I will flip those over as well. The same is done with the next rule.

Plus - This rule means that if the numbers of the two opposing cards add to the same amount as your card, it will be flipped. In the example screen, you see I set a Mobile Type 8 in the top left corner, and the opponent set a Blitz card in the center. OK the Bottom number of my card is 7. The left number of their card is 7. By placing my Chubby Chocobo in the left-center space, I was able to flip both over. 7+4=11, and 4+7=11. The bottom number on Mobile Type 8 and the top number on Chubby Chocobo added together, match the side number of the Chubby Chocobo and Blitz card added together.
And as with the Same rule, if there is a card with a lower number adjacent to the card that gets flipped, a combo will occur. It is also worth mentioning that these combos can keep going, provided the next card has a smaller number than the card that is flipped. I have been ahead by a 8-2 ratio, and the Card Queen has placed a card that plussed the two next to it, and flipped the entire board over! It is both shocking, and very devastating. This is why these two rules are massive killers, and should not be spread.
Same Wall - This rule is the same as the Same rule, but it uses the wall of the board. The board wall is the equivalent of A. So as you can see in this screen, by placing Pandemona next to the Malboro, I flipped it. The two 7's match, and the A is a match to the wall (A). This is a rule you do not have to worry about, as long as your opponent does not have any of the rare cards in their hand. Only the rare cards, and the Pupu card have A's in their numbers. Basically this rule I like, because I am the only one who can use it. But when playing the Queen on Disk 4, she does love to use it when she has her rare cards. You have been warned...:D
This covers the rules I know exist in Triple Triad. There could possibly be a Plus Wall, but I am not sure. If there was, it would be the same as Same wall, but instead of the numbers needing to match, the totals of the numbers would need to match. It may seem like a frustrating game, until you get the hang of it. Once you do, You will find that you just cannot stop playing it. I have trouble playing Final Fantasy VIII now, without spending hours on end playing Triple Triad.

This is a game very similar to Triple Triad, accept you 3 more levels of cards. You can choose between three players, play between two people, or the Computer. You can also determine the rules of the game. There is a new rule in this version called Domination. With this rule, if you set a card next to a card with a higher number, you will lose the card. It is a bit of a difficult rule to get a hang on, but once you do, you can use it to your advantage.
To get your deck going, I would suggest playing the Queen, and having it set for the computer to choose your cards. Then have the trade rule be all. Even if you lose the cards, the computer chooses the next set from the entire deck. Once you get really good cards, you can begin choosing your own hands. Once I can figure out a way to open a DAT file, I will place the new cards in here as well.
Download Triple Triad Gold
I do not remember where I got this game from. I would like to give proper credit to whomever originally had Triple Triad Gold. If you know who it is, or it is you, please e-mail me with verification. I will be sure to place credit for you.