Trolls Eat Moles
‘Trolls eat Moles’ uses the ‘Rock-Paper-Scissors’ concept and made it into a board game. Three people play this game. It is a game that requires strategy, diplomatic maneuvering, and luck.
Object of the game: To be the last of three players with pieces on the board.
Pieces: There are 3 sets of pieces, each set having: 6 Trolls, 6 Moles, 6 Holes and 1 Skull.
Trolls: Trolls eat Moles and can ONLY capture Moles. Each player has 6 Trolls.
Moles: Moles dig Holes and can ONLY capture Holes. Each player has 6 Moles.
Holes: Holes bury Trolls and can ONLY capture Trolls. Each player has 6 Holes.
Skulls: Skulls go boom and eliminate ALL pieces whose squares shares an adjacent side with the Skull square. The Skull is also removed. Each player has one Skull each. Figure 2 shows two Skulls eliminating six pieces.
Set up: Players take all their pieces and place them face down to mix them up. The red player selects 14 of their red pieces and slides 5 pieces to the side, not to be looked at. The green player selects 16 of their green pieces and slides 3 pieces to the side, not to be looked at. The blue player selects 18 of their blue pieces and slides 1 piece to the side, not to be looked at. Players take turns placing one piece at a time face down on the board starting with red, then green, then blue until all the pieces are placed. Figure 1 gives an example of what the board would look like when setting up the pieces. The pieces are flipped over after all the squares are filled up.. Any pieces sharing an adjacent side with a Skull is removed along with the Skull. Players then start moving, starting with red, then green, then blue, and continuing in that order.
Moving: Players move one space at a time in any direction; horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, either onto an empty space, or an occupied space that will allow a capture. Pieces can move multiple spaces in one turn if they are capturing.
Capturing: Pieces can only move onto an occupied square if it can be captured by the incoming piece. Trolls can move onto squares occupied by Moles, Moles can move onto squares occupied by Holes and Holes can move onto squares occupied by Trolls. A piece can capture as many pieces in one turn if they are joined together either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Captured pieces are placed under the captor to form a stack. Figure 2 shows an example of multiple captures by the red pieces (1), green pieces (2), and blue pieces (3). Figures 3 and 4 show more capturing.
Rounds: A round is when pieces have to be shuffled and placed on the board. This can happen if there are remaining pieces on the board from two or more players that cannot be captured. The player with the most pieces combined in their stacks after a round will have the advantage in the next round. That player will be the first player to move after all the pieces are set up and their pieces will be immune to any Skulls. The remaining players take all of their pieces that have not been captured and reshuffle them. Players then place their pieces any where on the board where there is not an occupied piece starting with the one who had the most pieces in their stacks.Players take turns filling the squares until either the spaces are all filled up, or there are no more pieces to place on the board. There is no limit to the number of rounds, though it would be rare to go more than three rounds.
Winning: Winning happens when there is only one player left with pieces on the board.