Pach-Ice-i
| Pach-Ice-i | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Zeitlin | ||
| Get all your pieces to your opponent's start | ||
| Players: | 2 | |
| Length: | unknown | |
| Complexity: | Medium | |
| Trios per color: | 5 | |
| Number of colors: | 2 | |
| - - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - - | ||
| Board as described, three d8 dice | ||
| Setup time: | 2 minutes | |
| Strategy depth: | Medium | |
| Random chance: | Medium | |
| BGG Link: | 34912 | |
| Status: Complete (v1.0), Year released: 2006 | ||
Summary[edit | edit source]
Pach-Ice-i is a race-to-the-finish game for two players based mostly on pachisi. The objective is for a player to get all of his pieces to the opponent's starting pad before the opponent gets all of his pieces to the player's starting pad.
Required Equipment[edit | edit source]
Each player requires one stash, and three 8-sided dice and the board described below are also required.
The Board[edit | edit source]
The board is square, 7x7, with the spaces colored in a checkerboard manner. If you assume that the squares are identified by numbered row and lettered column, the squares a1, a4, a7, d1, d4, d7, g1, g4, and g7 are all marked in some way to distinguish them from the other squares.
(For discussion purposes, it will be assumed that the board is checkered in black and white (with the corner squares being black), and that the two players will be using black and white Icehouse pieces. This is merely to simplify explanations of some of the rules.)
Setup[edit | edit source]
The board is placed diagonally between the two players. Both players start with all of their pieces off the board arranged in trees.
Play[edit | edit source]
The players use any method that seems good to them to decide who plays first. Play alternates.
On a player's turn, he first rolls the dice.
He then moves or enters up to three pieces as follows:
- A small piece is moved a number of spaces equal to the total of all three dice. The player's turn then ends. OR
- A medium piece is moved a number of spaces equal to the total of any two of the three dice. Those two dice are set aside, and the player may then move a large piece the number of spaces on the remaining die. Alternatively, the player may move the large piece first (selecting one die for the distance to move it, and setting that die aside), then the medium (for the remaining two dice). OR
- A large piece is moved a number of spaces equal to one die. That die is set aside. Repeat until three large pieces have been moved.
Entering a piece is like moving a piece that starts from a square adjacent to the corner square nearest the player. Only the topmost piece from any tree may be entered. A piece sent back to start (see below) is treated as being a separate tree from any other trees in the starting pad.
Movement[edit | edit source]
A piece may only be moved once in a turn. If you are moving only large pieces, you must move or enter three different large pieces.
A player MUST use all of the dice available; it is not permitted to move in such a manner that one CANNOT use all three dice.
A piece is not considered to be "touching down" on any of the intermediate spaces between the space that it starts from and the space that it ends on. If a medium or small piece is being moved, it is the sum of the two or three dice that is important, not the specific numbers rolled on them.
A player may only move pieces that are on his color of space on the board, but may move ANY piece sitting on his own color - in other words, black may move either black or white pieces that start on black squares, and white may move either black or white pieces that start on white squares. The marked squares (a, d, and g 1, 4, and 7) are considered both black and white; either player may move a piece that starts on those squares.
A player may move both his own and the opponent's pieces in the same move, provided that all other constraints are met.
A piece may end its move on a square occupied by another piece, if the newly-arriving piece is of equal or larger size only. If this happens, the previous piece is moved to the starting pad of the player whose color the space is. A piece may not end its move on a space occupied by a piece larger than itself, nor may it end its move on an occupied marked square. If a piece is sent to its owner's starting pad, it may be re-entered normally. If it is sent to the opponent's starting pad, it has reached its goal, and may not be moved out again.
Assume that square a1 is the square closest to black, and g7 closest to white. Black's pieces move through the board entering at a1, moving along the column a1 to a7, then b7 to b1, then c1 to c7, and so on until reaching g7, after which they move into the White's starting pad. White's piece move through the board entering at g7, moving along the row g7 to a7, then a6 to g6, then g5 to a5, and so on until reaching a1, after which they move into Black's starting pad.
If a player moves an opponent's piece on his own turn, he moves that piece according to his own movement rules, not the opponent's.
A player need not move his pieces into his opponent's starting pad by exact roll.
A player may not move an opponent's piece back into the opponent's start pad, except by causing another piece to land on it on the appropriate-colored square.
A player may not move an opponent's piece unless the total number of pips on the pieces he has entered is equal to or greater than the total number of pips on the pieces that his opponent has entered. A piece on the board or in the opponent's starting pad is considered entered; a piece in one's own starting pad is not considered entered, even if it had previously been entered and then sent back.
Except for winning the game, no move may end with the board in such a state that the opponent has no legal move on his turn.
Winning the Game[edit | edit source]
The player who gets all of the pieces from his starting pad to the opponent's starting pad first is the winner.