Il Gioco del Ponte (2014)

Since 1568, the north and south sides of Pisa (Tramontana und Mezzogiorno) compete yearly on the Il Gioco del Ponte - the battle for the bridge. Which strategy will lead your side to victory? What surprises do your opponents have in store for you? Only the most cunning players will overcome their opponent's assault and be declared the king of the bridge!

The boardgame implementation of this spectacle is a collector's item and artistic masterpiece, in which each of the figures is handmade and hand-painted. You pick a side and engage in a thrilling battle with two, three, four or six players. You'll have to divide your strength wisely, and adjust to the strategy of your opponents, in order to also push the handmade (and in real life seven ton) cart to the other side of the river.

How do you play?

The board game is based heavily on the real-world Il Gioco del Ponte event. There are always two sides competing against each other, and the basic rules of the two-player game also apply to the higher player counts. In the two-player version, each player selects a side (Tramontana or Mezzogiorno) and distributes their strength points across six districts.
To start a round, each player picks a magistrature. During one round, players choose one attack card each. A rock-paper-scissor-mechanism decides which player is to act, the winner moves the cart and both players loose strenght equal to the chosen attack cards and each chooses a new attack card. A round is over, if one side has no strenght left or if the cart is pushed completely to the opposite side. A game contains of at 6 rounds, a tie-braker decides in case of a tie. Strategy cards might be played as well to change the effects o the attack cards.

The Italian and English version are already available, for the German version there is a crowdfunding campaign running until July 5th 2015.