Ponte Del Diavolo

Last night I played two games of Ponte Del Diavolo with my mom. I had sat down to learn Ars Mysteriorum (which I still need to do) but this was much more fun.

Pontel del Diavolo is a 2 player abstract where each player places blocks of their own color onto the board. 4 adjacent blocks (of your color) form an island, which can never have more than 4 blocks. In addition to the size limit, an island can never touch an island of the same color, nor can it touch unfinished islands (groups with fewer than 4 blocks).

On your turn, you can either place 2 blocks or join two blocks with a bridge. Bridge placement also comes with some pretty simple rules, but the gist of it is that a bridge has to cross water (or open space). The goal is to connect, by the end of the game, as many of your islands as possible. The more you connect, the more points you will score.

Finally, I need to mention that the board and the wooden pieces are very nice and tactile. As a whole, the game is a great example of a "pretty wooden abstract."

So how does it play? After two games, I will say that it has great potential. Each game took around 20-30 minutes but they featured good interaction and some interesting plays. I believe that this one will come out again, though I am not sure how often. I do often have time/opportunities for 2 player games, so this game does fill that spot. However, at 30 minutes, it takes too long to fill the niche of the "let's pull this out while waiting 10 minutes for the next player to arrive" game.