Bridge Troll

About this board game

Bridge Troll is a competitive game for 3–6 players, with each game taking about 45 minutes. You play a hideous troll guarding a bridge, competing to build the most impressive troll bridge operation.

Each turn, players throw boulders to bid for travelers. The number of travelers available depends on the weather, and the group may include fat merchants, pilgrims, poor monks, and—if fortune favors you—royal personages. Travelers who reach your bridge can help you collect tolls.

The countryside is not safe, however. Knights, bandits, dragons, and vicious Billy Goats Gruff may threaten your business. You must spend some of your boulders to chase them away, leaving fewer boulders available for bidding on travelers.

• Bid boulders for the day’s available travelers.
• Collect tolls to obtain building supplies.
• Eat travelers to keep your working troll fed.
• Drive away threats before they disrupt your bridge operation.

Your challenge is to balance competing needs. Collecting tolls gives you money for building supplies, but working on your bridge makes you hungry, so some travelers must become food instead. Eating too many travelers or focusing only on money can leave you unable to fix up your bridge.

Use toll-money, food, and boulders carefully as you develop your bridge and compete for the most impressive operation. Released in 2009, Bridge Troll is the first of two “Troll” games by the designer; the second is Trollhalla.