Overview

Ponte del Diavolo is a two-player abstract strategy game where players place island tiles on a 10x10 grid to form islands of exactly 4 tiles, then connect them with bridges to score points. Inspired by Alex Randolph’s Twixt, it emphasizes spatial intuition and planning. The player with the most points from connected island groups wins.

Components

• 80 island squares in 2 colors (40 per player)
• 15 gray bridges
• 1 board (10x10 grid)
• 1 cloth bag

Setup

1. Place the board between the 2 players.
2. Sort island squares and bridges by color.
3. Alex Randolph start rule: The older player takes 2 light island squares and places them on any 2 spaces on the board. The other player then chooses whether to play with light or dark squares.
4. The player with dark squares places 2 dark squares on any 2 empty spaces.

Turn Structure

Players alternate turns. On your turn, you must do one of the following:

• Place 2 island squares of your color on any 2 empty spaces on the board (they may touch each other but need not), OR
• Place 1 bridge connecting 2 of your island squares.

Actions

Placing Island Squares

Place 2 of your color tiles on any empty, unblocked spaces. Tiles must follow the touching rule (see below).

Placing a Bridge

Place 1 bridge connecting 2 of your own island squares. The space(s) spanned by the bridge must be unoccupied. A bridge blocks the spaces beneath it (max 2 spaces blocked). No square may be placed beneath a bridge later.

Island and Sand Bank Rules

• Island: Exactly 4 connected same-color squares (touching along at least one side). An island must be exactly 4 squares, never more or fewer. Any of 5 shapes (plus their reflections) are valid.
• Sand bank: A group of 1, 2, or 3 connected same-color squares.
• Touching rule: An island or sand bank may NOT touch (even diagonally) another island or sand bank of the same color.
• Exception: Sand banks may touch each other diagonally. They can be connected into an island as long as the resulting group does not exceed 4 squares and does not touch another same-color island.
• Islands and sand banks of different colors may touch freely.

Bridge Rules

• A bridge connects exactly 2 squares of the same color.
• The space(s) under a bridge must be empty.
• Each square may hold only 1 bridge end.
• A bridge may not span over any occupied square (regardless of color).
• Spaces beneath a bridge are permanently blocked.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Game End

If the light-squares player cannot place 2 squares and cannot/chooses not to build a bridge, the dark-squares player takes 1 more turn, then the game ends. If the dark-squares player cannot place 2 squares and cannot/chooses not to place a bridge, the game ends immediately.

Scoring

Each player scores their islands:

• A solitary island (not connected by any bridge to other islands or sand banks) scores 1 point.
• Islands connected by bridges score based on the number of connected islands:

Connected Islands	Points
1 (solitary)	1
2	3
3	6
4	10
5+	increases accordingly

The player with the most points wins. Tiebreakers (in order): most islands, most bridges, shared victory.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• If an illegal play is not detected within two rounds (and cannot be easily corrected), terminate the game and start over.
• Sand banks that touch diagonally can potentially be merged into a legal island if the result has exactly 4 squares and doesn’t violate the touching rule.
• A bridge connection through a sand bank still counts for scoring purposes.

Player Reference

Action	Details
Place 2 tiles	Any empty, unblocked spaces; follow touching rule
Place 1 bridge	Connect 2 of your squares; space beneath must be empty
Touching rule	Same-color islands/sand banks cannot touch (even diagonally)
Island	Exactly 4 connected same-color squares
Sand bank	1-3 connected same-color squares

Win condition: Most points from connected island networks.