While this certainly will not be a perfect guide, it should be enough for players who have got the full rule book unlocked for them to handle the chaos that is Advanced Troll Chess 11th Edition. Or, as we know it, King of the Bridge.
I’ll give some of my tips for playing the game and handling the AI and how it works- and most of what it does when it does decide to cheat. There will not be any full explanations to the more secretive puzzles in this game — however, I will give hints that should get you in the right direction.
So if you want to learn these secrets completely on your own, don’t read the spoilers at the end. But if you need a nudge but not the straight-up answer, then you’re in the right place.
King of the Bridge: Advanced Troll Chess 11th Edition
If you have not unlocked all of the rule pages yet, then be aware that this contains all rules, including ones you have not revealed. It will be difficult to use currently hidden rules against the Troll, but he will still use them against you (revealing the rule in the process). This game is best experienced by trial and error, so it is best to reveal the pages yourself before continuing.
Simplified Rules:
Pawns move like kings minus diagonals. Getting them to the other side of the board ‘ascends’ them.
Rooks move as normal and are referred to as towers. They can kill pieces of their same color. Putting any two rooks adjacent creates an immobile castle piece.
Bishops move as normal. They can go beyond the border of the board and leave landmines on the space they left upon moving. Landmines cannot move, can be jumped over by any piece capable of traveling past them, and kill any piece that lands on them.
Knights move as normal and are referred to as horse guys. No special effects for these.
Queens move as normal. Upon capturing a piece, they mirror the board. You cannot move your Queen to touch or kill the opposing King.
Kings move as normal. Killing White’s King ends the game in a victory for Black. Killing Black’s King will randomly make another existing Black piece into a new King, or if there is none, the game ends in a victory for White.
Slippery tiles appear normal until triggered for the first time. A piece that lands on them falls down and requires one turn to be used to get it upright. Their layout is always different but are only found in the middle 4 rows.
You cannot stack pieces on one space.
These are all the rules that are in the game SO FAR. There is no telling if any more rules will be added or if the ruleset may change in some way.
Gameplay Strategy — Troll Tendencies
If you want to get an upper hand on the Troll, you sometimes have to play like one yourself. There are still ways to win without stooping to their level, but it is much tougher. Both your choices and the Troll’s impact the game significantly. In this section we’re focusing on the Troll’s habits with pieces and, of course, cheating.
They tend to prefer not to lose high-value pieces to Pawns, so strangely enough, your Pawns are a great defense. As long as you keep two guarding each other whenever one is in trouble, you’re very likely to not need to worry about losing them. And if you lose one, you can take their piece in return. Just be cautious for slippery floors — they can help and hinder. If the Troll has a piece slip one tile away from a Pawn, you have a free capture if you’re careful.
Another thing the Troll loves to do is sneak Bishops behind your front line and pin your King against it. The moment they put a Bishop outside of the board, get preparing and move your King away from the edge of the board. If you’re too slow to realize what’s happening, you’ll find yourself in a very, very tight spot.
Next, their tendencies with Rooks. They seem to love breaking the “Only he can jump” rule and yeeting their Rook down to capture your own Rook. You practically have to take out the Rook with the revenge cheat if you don’t want it to snap a good couple pieces while it’s back there. Sometimes they’ll go for a Pawn with this move instead. This can be both better and worse depending on the situation- as mentioned, Pawns are a surprisingly good defense.
Their plays with Knight are especially conservative, opting to not take if the options are guarded. They’ll often seem like they’re on the offense and seem like they plan to take one pawn or another. But if you hold your ground or even push back, they’ll often back off. Having a line of five Pawns with the Knight trying to threaten the second and fourth, moving the middle towards the Knight will almost always get them to back off.
As for their Pawn, they are seemingly even more unsure — they’ll often move as though trying to threaten, before backing off almost on their own. If you have Knights, Bishops, or your Queen, you can cut into them diagonally and be practically safe… but if you get too close, he might pull a sudden diagonal. You can call him out on it, but by then the damage is done…
When you go after the King, he plays quite similarly to a Pawn- but diagonals don’t scare him. You’ll have to get crafty with slippery tiles and landmines if you’re low on pieces when going after him.
They seem to prefer cheating movement direction with Knights and Bishops, jumping with Rooks and their Queen, taking diagonals with Pawns, and going two spaces with their King. Keep these tendencies in mind when going against them.
Gameplay Strategy — Sneaky Moves
As for some moves you can use regardless of the Troll’s tactics, you’ll need to think outside the box- and sometimes outside of the board. If you’re willing to make use of your revenge cheat, there’s some major damage you can do to them with some crafty maneuvers.
When you get a revenge cheat, remember you can move any piece anywhere. (The Troll certainly makes use of that- if they catch you cheating, by accident or not, the game is over, as they’ll just yeet their King onto yours and end the game right there and then.) While it’s not as easy to win for you, there’s a good few ways to use it to your advantage.
One good cheat tactic for early game is to combine the ‘eating’ capability of the Rook with the effect it has when side-by-side with another. If one side of the board still has the Rook and Knight not having moved yet, and the other Rook is still alive, you can ‘eat’ the Knight with the Rook and then turn both Rooks into a Castle- effectively taking three pieces in one cheaty move.
If you’re worried about the safety of your pieces, and you’ve had some Bishops do some jumping around, you’ll be able to pick up and drop the Landmines left behind to instantly destroy a piece, simple as that. And since it’s not one of your actual pieces, there’s not even really any risk to this!
If Knights, Rooks, and Pawns are getting on your nerves, then why not send them to purgatory? By dropping them off outside the board, and ensuring none of their paths allow them to return, you effectively trap them there. And when you’re ready to finish them off, use either a Bishop or another cheat move to get rid of them. This works on the King, and even the Queen if you move it far enough away!
Being able to move the enemy’s Queen is quite powerful. And the Troll doesn’t even do it that much until it’s one of their only remaining options! Make full use of it- if you want her to go away, then just move her away! Just know that the Troll isn’t foolish either- if you try to move it into a position where it wouldn’t be able to take something without getting taken, you’ll get into a bit of a back-and-forth rally. If only there were something to keep them from moving it back right away… perhaps slip them up a bit?
There are a lot more strategies out there than just these. If you’re achievement hunting, you’ve likely come across some of these strategies already! There’s a good variety of options you can use, so try messing around every now and then — see how far you can push the rules without breaking them!
Ending Hints & Spoilers
So you’re trying to figure out how to get alternate endings? Fine by me. But I won’t just give you the answer. That’s the fun about being here before all the YouTube stuff. I feel sad I wasn’t able to figure it all out myself, as I needed help due to how vague some of it was. But, hopefully I can fix that.
If you want to figure out the endings completely on your own, LEAVE NOW!
Bad Ending: Self-explanatory.
Good Ending: What if you just… don’t?
Ascension Ending:
- Hint 1: That term sounds familiar.
- Hint 2: How much can you do it again?
- Hint 3: Don’t lose a single one.
Goose Ending:
- Hint 1: Illegal Troll
- Hint 2: Drifting away
- Hint 3: Crown on feather
Hopefully these hints help. Keep trying whatever you can — even if it seems it isn’t working, sometimes you’re on the right track. Good luck!
Special thanks to → SunMoonFX