From: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Commercial Abstract Games: Icehouse
Organization: Plymouth State College - Plymouth, NH.
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 19:29:51 GMT

Continuing the description on games on my commercially avaible abstract
list, this post is on Icehouse.

Icehouse in brief:
 
Icehouse is a game for two to X players, X = as many as can comfortably
reach the playing area.  The standard set comes with four sets of
pieces, though they make two different colored sets, for a total of
eight colors.

Each player has 15 pieces: five each of small, medium, and large
pyramids.  (Worth 1 point, 2 points and 3 points, respectively.)  There
is no board, but each player has a "stash pad", a piece of cardboard
where his unplayed pieces are kept.

The game is unusual in that there is no turn sequence: players play
when they wish to.  There are rules prohibiting using both hands at
once, though, so if you sit there and come up with a strategy involving
playing four pieces in a row, you'll have to play them one after the
other, with the same hand.  This gives foes time to intercept you - but
they'll have to think quickly.

Pieces can be played either defensively - pointing to the ceiling - or
offensively - pointing at another player's defensive piece.  Your first
two pieces played *must* be defensive or there is a penalty.

You can "Ice" a defensive piece by playing offensive pieces pointing at
it that total more points than the defensive piece.  An iced piece is
worth no points.  However, you must be careful not to "overice" - using
so much force that removing one of your attacking pieces leaves the
defender still iced.  In this case, that's exactly what happens: the
*defender* gets to remove your excessive piece and put it on her stash
pad for later placement.  

(Example:  you have a 2-point piece and a 1-point piece pointing at a
defensive 3-point piece.  It's not iced yet, because you don't have
*more* points attacking it than it has.  If you play another 1-point
piece attacking it, fine: it's iced.  However, if you play a 2- or
3-point piece, you blew it: it's overiced.  The defender may remove
your existing 1-point piece and leave his piece on the board still
iced.  He can now play your piece later - which can be a major headache
for you!  For example, he can play it defensively, then play an
attacking piece of his own next to it so that it not only ices the
piece of yours just played, but his attacking piece might also block
one of your attacking pieces on a different defending piece of his,
thus freeing it up.  Or he can over-ice a different one of his
defending pieces already iced, and remove one of your other attacking
pieces that was a major thorn in his side because it protected one of
your defending pieces . . . and so on.  Best not to over-ice!)

When the last piece is played, victory points are scored.  Each uniced
defending piece scores its point value, and each attacking piece on the
table that is successfully icing a piece scores its point value.  High
score wins.

Once played, a piece cannot be moved (unless it's overicing).  Nor may
another piece be played so as to move or touch it.

To ice a piece, the attacking piece cannot be further away from the
defender than the attacker's own length, and there must be no piece in
between.  This leads to some interesting strategies: you try to block
in a defending piece so that no attacking pieces can ice it; you also
can try to play a piece in between an icing attack and your defending
piece.

There is an optional rule called Walls which I don't recommend until
*every* player has mastered the basic rules.  It makes the game much
more complicated - a wall is an imaginary line drawn between pieces on
the board, and restricts placement of attacking pieces.

The game comes in two formats: an inexpensive "origami" set made of
paper that you have to fold into the pyramid shapes, and a wooden set.
I only own the origami set, so haven't seen the expanded handbook that
they claim comes with the wooden set.  The paper set comes with a
fairly detailed rulebook plus a helpful sample game, as well as four
different colored sets of pieces and stash pads.  It takes some time to
make all the pieces, though:  get some friends to help you.  They
recommend using aquarium gravel to make the pieces less liable to
puffing damage - I agree.

Icehouse can be obtained from:

Icehouse Games
P.O. Box 761
College Park, MD 20740
 
The origami set is $7 + $1.50 shipping - specify "standard" or "neon"
colors or just let them send you whatever they first grab.  The wooden
set is $37 + $3.00 shipping.  You can also simply send an SASE for a
brochure.

-- 
  - Steffan O'Sullivan		         sos@oz.plymouth.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract