Tic      



  Tac    

Doh!

 

An Icehouse game for 2 people

Equipment:  1 stackable Icehouse stash. 
Preferable not opaque.

Goal: Get three pieces of the same size in a row
in an imaginary 3 by 3 grid. (This is where the Tic Tac comes in.)

Players take turn placing the Icehouse pieces on
the table in the following manner:

Each piece must be placed in an imaginary square
next to or on top on a piece already in play.  (Diagonally counts as next
to.)  A piece cannot be played if it would lie outside the imaginary 3 by 3
grid.  Note: Since you create the grid as you go you don't know where out
of bounds is until you have played a few pieces.  For example, the first
piece you play can either be the center, corner or edge.  Nobody knows
until a few more piece have been played.  You can play a piece on top of
another piece in two ways.  The first is playing a smaller piece on top of
a piece one size larger than another one  forming a tree of pieces. 

This grouping counts as ANY of the pieces that make up it.  For example a
medium piece could be played on top of a large piece.  This tree would now
count as either a large or medium when trying to get three in a row.  A
small piece could then be played on top of the three making it count as any of
the three types.  The second way to play a piece on top of another is to
nest them, larger on top of smaller ones.  For example a medium could be
played on top of a small one.  Later on a large could be played on top of
the nest.  A nest only counts as the outermost (biggest) piece.  So
a nest with a small and a medium only counts as a medium piece.  A square
cannot have both a nest and a tree.  Like chess once you let go of a piece
it is considered played and cannot be moved.

Players take turn putting the piece on the board
until someone gets three of the same size pieces in a row or all the pieces are
placed on the board (a tie).  In the event that a person cannot make a
legal move on his turn the other player wins (I 'm not sure if this is even
possible though).

Oh, the "Doh!" comes from the fact that most of the
time you try to place pieces so that you opponent can't win.  I usually end
up realizing I've screwed up a split second after I've let go of the piece and
end up yelling "Doh!"

Some thoughts on variations:

I think this might work reasonable well as a 3 or
4 person game but I haven't tried it.

If you have three stashes use one size from each
stash.  This makes it easier to see the possible wins and looks pretty cool
in my opinion, especially using red, yellow and orange. 

Any questions or comments can be emailed to
BrianSchultze@yahoo.com

 

 

 

IceSickle: the Martian Peg Game

IceSickle (1 IceHouse stash & 5x5 board): Alternate turns placing pieces onto empty squares. Then take turns jumping a piece, diagonally or orthogonally, over at least one other piece into an empty square. Each piece can jump over its pip-count in squares. Remove the jumped pieces, and score their pips. Continue until no jumps remain. Play again with a different starting player.

http://home.neo.rr.com/danisaac/LooneyLabs/Games/IceSickle/IceSickle.htm
A single stash game for two players -- from Dan Isaac



Equipment:

1 stash of Icehouse pieces	http://wunderland.com/icehouse/
1 Volcano board   [5x5 grid board w/ 1" squares]	http://wunderland.com/icehouse/VolcanoBoard.html

Rules of play:

Determine who will start the first rounds Placement phase.

The second player will go first in the Jumping phase.

Phase I -- Placement

• Take turns placing one pyramid from the stash onto an empty space on the
  board.
  
• After all pieces have been placed onto the board, move onto the Jumping
  phase

Phase 2 -- Jumping

• Take turns making a valid jump[*], which captures at least one piece.
  
• If a player is unable to do this on their turn, the game ends.
  

Score this round, then play a second time with the other player Placing
first.

• Each player totals up the Pip-Counts[**] of the pieces that they have
  captured, and notes those scores.
  
• Then remove all remaining pieces from the board, and play a second game
  with the other player placing the first piece.
  
• Total the scores from the two games and the player with the highest
  total wins.

[*] Definition of a jump:

A jump is made by following these steps:

1. Select a piece on the board.
   
   
2. Move it in a straight line (orthogonal or diagonal)
   over (at most)
   as many spaces as it’s Pip-Count[**],
   and land in the following space
   -- which must be empty.
   
   

   
   

   smalls can jump over only one space (and land in the second)
   

   mediums can jump over one or two spaces
   

   and larges can jump over one, two or three spaces

   
   
   
3. Remove all pieces that were jumped over ("captured") during the
   move,
   and place them in front of the player that made the move.
   

[**] Definition of Pip-Count:

Pip-Count is the value of a piece based on it's size:

• Large pieces count as 3 points each.
  
  
  
• Medium pieces count as 2 points each.
  
  
• Small pieces count as 1 point each.