Pylon

From Looney Pyramid Games Wiki
Pylon
Doug Orleans
A 2-player abstract strategy game of placement and stacking.
:Players Players: 2
:Time Length: unknown
:Complexity Complexity: Low
Trios per color: 5
Number of colors: 2
Pyramid trios:
Monochr. stashes: 2
Five-color sets:
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - -
a 5x6 rectangular board
Setup time: less than a minute
Playing time:
Strategy depth: High
Random chance: None
Game mechanics:
Theme: Abstract, Strategy
BGG Link: Pylon
Status: Complete (v1.0), Year released: 2007


Pylon is a 2-player abstract strategy game of placement and stacking. You'll need two stashes and a 5x6 rectangular board.


Rules[edit | edit source]

Setup[edit | edit source]

Place the board between the players. Each player takes one stash.

Play[edit | edit source]

The game is played in two phases: a placement phase, in which all the pyramids are placed onto the board, followed by a stacking phase, in which pyramids are collected into stacks.

Placement phase[edit | edit source]

Players alternate turns. On your turn, place a pyramid from your stash onto any empty square. Continue until the board is full.

Stacking phase[edit | edit source]

Players alternate turns, starting with the player who placed the last pyramid. On your turn, choose any pyramid or stack of pyramids, regardless of color, and place it on top of a pyramid or stack of pyramids in an orthogonally adjacent square. (A pyramid or stack may never be moved to an empty square; once a square is vacated, it will never be occupied again.) However, a pyramid may never be stacked on top of a smaller pyramid, i.e., the bottom pyramid of the top stack must be no larger than the top pyramid of the bottom stack. Continue until no legal moves remain. (The players can agree to end the game earlier if it's clear that no moves will change the final score.)

Scoring[edit | edit source]

Your score is the total number of pyramids in stacks whose top pyramid belongs to you. The player with the higher score at the end of the game wins.

History[edit | edit source]

I invented this game on November 25, 2005, after reading some discussion about stacking games on the abstractgames and stacking-games YahooGroups. It owes a big debt to Dvonn, and a small debt to Clans.

I implemented Pylon for Volity in March 2008. The source code is available (GNU AGPL v3) at Github.

Additional Languages[edit | edit source]

Pylon (French)

Featured in Pyramid Arcade 22 More Great Games
Little Else Required
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More Pyramids Required
Icehouse · Quicksand · Torpedo · Undercut
More Pyramids + Other Stuff Required
Alien City · Blam! · Builders of R'lyeh · Gnostica
Pikemen · Pylon · RAMbots · Stack Control
Subdivision · Synapse-Ice · Zendo
Entered in the Icehouse Game Design Competition, Summer 2007
Winner: Pylon 2nd: Subdivision 3rd: Zamboni Wars 4th: Geomancy
5th: Penguin Soccer 6th: Moon Shot 7th: Martian Coaster Chaturanga 8th: Trip Away