Synapse-Ice

From Looney Pyramid Games Wiki
Synapse-Ice
Joseph Kisenwether
An adaptation of the paper-and-pencil game Synapse'
: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: 5
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - -
Setup time: 30 Seconds
Playing time:
Strategy depth: Medium
Random chance: None
Game mechanics:
Theme: Abstract
BGG Link: Synapse-Ice
Status: Complete (v1.0), Year released: 2005

Synapse-Ice[edit | edit source]


Requirements[edit | edit source]

  • 2 players
  • An icehouse stash for each player
  • A 5x6 rectangular grid. (A section of chess-board works well.)

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

The board starts out empty. The first player chooses any pieces from his stash and places it lying down on any square on the board, pointing to an empty space. A 3-point piece points to the square three steps away, a 2-pointer to the space two steps away, and a 1-pointer to the adjacent space. On each subsequent move, the next player must then place a piece in the square pointed to. This piece must also point to an empty space. The first player who is unable to make a move loses.

Sample Play[edit | edit source]


::SPE ::SPS ::LPE ::SPS
::MPS ::MPE ::MPW ::LPS ::LPW
:Star ::MPS ::LPW
::LPN ::SPN ::LPN ::LPW
::SPN ::LPE ::SPE ::LPW ::SPN
  
::MMM ::SS

::L ::MMM ::S

In this example, Red has just played a 1-point piece pointing up to the space with the :Star. Green has to play in the :Star'ed space, and has only two options, a 1-point piece pointing left, or a 2-point piece pointing right. He could have played a 3-point piece to the right as well, but he's used all of his 3-pointer already. If he points left, red could play a 2-point piece facing down and win immediately. So he points right.


::SPE ::SPS ::LPE ::SPS
::MPS ::MPE ::MPW ::LPS ::LPW
::MPE ::MPS :Star ::LPW
::LPN ::SPN ::LPN ::LPW
::SPN ::LPE ::SPE ::LPW ::SPN
  
::MM ::SS

::L ::MMM ::S

Red now has 4 options, 3-left, 2-up, 1-right, and 1-down. She selects 1-right.


::SPE ::SPS ::LPE ::SPS
::MPS ::MPE ::MPW ::LPS ::LPW
::MPE ::MPS ::SPE :Star ::LPW
::LPN ::SPN ::LPN ::LPW
::SPN ::LPE ::SPE ::LPW ::SPN
  
::MM ::SS

::L ::MMM

Green can choose 2-up, 1-up, or 1-down. He goes for 1 up, a mistake. (The next few moves are forced, so we'll skip ahead on the diagrams.) Red has no choice, she must play 2-down. And that leaves Green with no choice, gotta play 1-left. Red then plays 3-up (her only move) leaving us with this situation:


::SPE ::SPS ::LPE :Star ::SPS
::MPS ::MPE ::MPW ::LPS ::MPS ::LPW
::MPE ::MPS ::SPE ::SPN ::LPW
::LPN ::SPN ::LPN ::LPN ::SPW ::LPW
::SPN ::LPE ::SPE ::LPW ::SPN
  
::MM

::MM

Green has no legal move, and so Red wins! If he had played it right in the third diagram, Green could have forced a win. Of course, if Red had played it right in the second diagram, she could have forced a win first. I'll leave figuring out the right moves in each of these situations as an exercise for the reader.

Synapse-Ice was designed by Joseph Kisenwether in 2005, based on the paper-and-pencil game Synapse.

External Links[edit | edit source]

Featured in Pyramid Arcade 22 More Great Games
Little Else Required
Apophis · Egyptian Solitaire · Freeze Tag
Gleebs and Grues · Logger · Timelock · Penguin Soccer
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, Winter 2005
Winner: Hextris 2nd: Blam! 3rd: A-A-Arctic Kettering
4th (tie): Influence and Synapse-Ice 6th: Quintazone 7th: Martian Race
8th: Icebomb Arena 9th: What Blind Ninjas? 10th: Ice Soo Sorry 11th: StarRunners