Final Fantasy 8's Triple Triad Is The Greatest Minigame

thegamer.com:

Every couple of years I feel the urge to replay Final Fantasy 8, and every time I do fall into the same trap. Your first objective is simple: meet Quistis, your teacher, at the front gate of mercenary school Balamb Garden. Squall is late for his appointment at the Fire Cave, where he has to defeat Ifrit to enter the next stage of his SeeD training. Time is running out—the field exam is tomorrow—but I have other things to do. Disregarding the pressing urgency of the plot, every time I play this game I spend at least 2 hours playing Triple Triad. It makes no sense from a story perspective. Or maybe it does. Squall is a bad boy rebel after all. But Quistis is gonna be waiting at that gate till I build a nice starter deck.

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Minigames don't get much better than Triple Triad. Designed by Takayoshi Nakazato, Final Fantasy 8's battle planner, it involves using numbered cards to dominate a 3x3 board. Each card has four numbers in the top left corner, corresponding to one of the four sides of the card. If the number touching your opponent's card is higher than theirs, their card will be captured and flipped to your colour. When both players' decks have been played, and you've flipped more than your opponent, you win—and you get to take one of their cards as a reward. It doesn't sound like much written down, but in practice it's deeply compelling. All it takes is a few wins, and a few decent cards, to draw you in.

Minutes into the game a student gives Squall a very basic deck of low-level Triple Triad cards. When this happens, I immediately head to the lobby of the Garden and find the kid running laps. He has a very solid collection of cards—including