Troke

Incomplete

History

Troke was designed by James Bruno and Arpad Rosti and produced in 1956 by Selchow & Richter (Production & Marketing Co.), the makers of SCRABBLE. It is almost certainly inspired by Chinese Checkers or Halma.

Objective

A game is concluded when any one player has constructed four of his or her own castles in the four circular positions marked with their own color. These four cells mark each player's goal line. When playing with four players, these should be on the farthest side of the board from their owner and their own pieces should start on the four circles closest to them. The objective, however, is to score more points than the opponent(s). In the original marketed game, a player was given a chip for each point scored, but scoring can be kept just as easily with coins or some other token. A player earns points by capturing opposing pieces and by assembling castles on their goal line.

Play

The game commences with all the castles assembled on the four circles opposite their goal line. When playing with two players, one player plays red and the other plays blue. When playing with three players, one player plays red, one player plays blue and the other may choose green or yellow. Note that when playing with three players, the player who does not have anyone opposite him or her has the advantageous position. Therefore, it is best to play a tournament of three or more games when playing with three and give everyone a chance to play the privileged side. With four players, each player has a color of her own. Additionally, each player commences the game with twelve chips (or twelve points, depending on how you are counting them). Red always has the first move.

The pieces move independent of each other unless they capture or become captured. Each piece separates from its castle and starts independently. On their turn, a player moves any one of their twelve pieces forward along a line to an adjacent circle. Note that all of the intersections do not have circles on them and counters may not land at these points. Pieces may move forward, diagonally forward or sideways, but cannot move backwards. A piece may not move to a circle occupied by the same shape of piece, but it may move to an circle occupied by one or two pieces of other shapes, regardless of color. If a moving piece lands at a vacant circle, the player's turn is over and the next player moves. If, however, the piece lands at a circle occupied by other pieces it thereby captures them, they are assembled or stacked together, and the capturing piece is entitled to one additional move for each piece it captures, including pieces of its own color. For example, if a tower captures a wall, the tower and the wall will move one additional space together; if a tower captures a moat that is with a wall, the entire unit moves two spaces. It is also possible to capture segments one at a time, so that, for example, the tower can first capture a moat, and then move as a unit and capture a wall, allowing another move for the entire unit. As a castle (three segments together–which can belong to three different players), the pieces are not subject to attack; but in order to move, one of the segments must leave the secure castle. These additional moves, after capture, are made by the entire assembly and this may be in the wrong direction for some of the captured pieces, i.e. pieces may move backwards, towards their starting point, when they are forced to do so as a result of a capture. A player, however, my never take a captured piece all the way back to its own starting line. The capturing player will have to work out the move before the capturing sequence is made so that it will terminate before reaching a captured piece's starting line. Each time a player captures an opposing piece, the owner of that piece must give him or her one of their chips.

When any piece reaches one of the circles in its goal line before completing a capturing move, the player may continue the move sideways to another circle on their goal line or terminate the move at the first goal point reached. A player's goal line is a safe zone for them and once on a circle there, a player may move sideways and has option of taking additional moves for capturing friendly or opposing pieces, but may not themselves be captured by opposing pieces. A player may however, land on an opposing different-shaped piece in their starting line (this being the opponent's goal line) and share that position with them, but this does not constitute a capture or earn additional moves or chips for the player.

Although a castle, as it was formed at the start of the game, may not be moved away from the starting line without breaking up into segments first, it should be noted that a player may move sideways on his or her own starting line and gain additional moves for capturing his own piece(s). A clever player will probably try and work out a good game opening utilizing this option.

In addition to chips gained from capturing, the first player to assemble one castle in their goal line receives one chip from each of the other players. The first player to assemble two castles in their goal line receives two chips from each of the other players. The first player to assemble three castles in their goal line receives three chips from each of the other players. The first player to assemble four castles in their goal line receives four chips from each of the other players. Once a player has assembled four castles consisting of all twelve of their pieces in their goal line and is given the chips he just earned, the game is over and the winner is the player with the most chips (or points).

Strategy

Variations

A simpler game may be played without chips or points, where each player is only trying to achieve the objective of building their four castles.

The games' original rules give an alternate scoring system where capturing an opponent's tower is still worth one point, but capturing an opponent's wall grants them two chips from the opponent and capturing the opponent's moat grants them three points. A player may, therefore, earn up to five chips for a capturing move involving their tower capturing opponent's wall and moat.

Sources

1. Troke at Board Game Geek. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1993/troke