Icehouse
And Martian Chess, IceTowers, Zendo, Zarcana, and...
Gaming’s prime directive — “Be Fun.” Everything else is a bonus, including looks.
Some great games look terrible; many more are purely functional. Sometimes “purely functional” produces an austere presence, like Nethack’s ASCII layout or an 18xx board. Not beautiful, but pleasing.
Few games have “a look.” A quality Go set made by master craftsmen can set you back thousands of dollars for the shells and slate pieces, and hard carved wooden board. It would look great on a table1 and could be mistaken for a piece of performance art.
Few of the games I play would be mistaken for art. Few, but not zero.
I was introduced to John Cooper & Andrew Looney’s Icehouse in the 90s when I wandered by people playing at a convention.
On the floor.
Icehouse (unlike Zarcana, game pictured above) has board, no set playing area and no turns2. Players set their pyramids anywhere in the playing area (which could be a coffee table). Standing pyramids are defenders; pyramids on their sides are attacking. If too many attackers gang up on a piece, the defender can pick up an attacker and reposition it, perhaps putting it as a defender to intercept an attack, or help finish an attack on a 3rd player.
The pyramids are pieces and terrain; once set they are now there3 . It’s a chaotic flow, with a touch-move like chess, your piece can be adjusted as long as you are touching it, but once you let go it’s done. If you all of your defenders have been successfully attacked (past the opening) you are eliminated, but if not the game goes on until all the pieces are played or the (hidden!) timer goes off …
It’s a novel game. Novel enough to earn a patent.
Icehouse is a real time game with no turns that looks phenomenal on a coffee table. Just leave it out until the next game. It had a cult following4 and over the next few years I would see it played on tables and floors at numerous conventions, and I would join in and get a set of pyramids. A real-time abstract is a tough sell for many audiences, no matter how good it looks.
But even if Icehouse never flew to the heights I thought it would, the pieces attracted attention. More and more games were created for them. The pyramids seem to invite play and I’ve only tried a small sample of the 250 or so listed on BGG!
Of particular interest is Zendo, a version of 20th Century Project Nominee Eleusis that uses Pyramids instead of cards.
I am torn about Icehouse and Looney Pyramids. I think they are certainly a novel (and important) chapter in games. Beautiful. Novel. Perhaps not influential enough to be listed in The 100 Most Influential Games of the 20th Century.
What do you think?
Note — The 20th Century Project is taking next week off. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
The most expensive Go boards (“Goban”) are tables already.
And no Tarot Cards.
Except for the “over-attacking,” described above.
Including a fanzine that predates the internet — Hypothermia
Never heard of this one.