IceCream
Under development
This game is currently under development, in the Playtesting stage. Feedback is strongly encouraged! Feel free to give comments on game design or structure on the talk page.
| IceCream | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jake Eakle | ||
| A two player game that requires no playing surface. | ||
| Players: | 2 | |
| Length: | unknown | |
| Complexity: | Low | |
| Trios per color: | 4 | |
| Number of colors: | 3 | |
| - - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - - | ||
| None. | ||
| Setup time: | 1 minute or less. | |
| Strategy depth: | Low-Medium | |
| Random chance: | None | |
| Theme: | Abstract/Ice Cream Cones | |
| Status: Not Specified (v1.0), Year released: 2005 | ||
IceCream is a two player game that requires no playing surface. Players take turns moving "scoops" (IceHouse pieces) between two different "cones," trying to align all four pieces of their "flavor" (color).
What you need[edit | edit source]
- Four each of three colors of large pyramid. I use Green, Yellow, and Red.
- 2 players
Setup[edit | edit source]
There are two versions of IceCream - the tabletop version and the on-the-go version. The ice cream flavor of the game is lost in the tabletop version, but it is probably more comfortable for most players with an available table to use it.
On-The-Go
Create two inverted stacks of pyramids with the following configuration, from bottom to top: Red-Yellow-Green-Red-Yellow-Green, and Red-Green-Yellow-Red-Green-Yellow.
One player holds both bottom Red pieces between thumb and index finger.
Tabletop
Same as above, but create the stacks in the customary fashion. The bottom Red pieces are extraneous in this version, but make good placeholders when the stack is empty.
Players determine who will be yellow and who will be green, as well as who goes first, in a manner of their choosing.
Play[edit | edit source]
On each player's turn, they get X + 1 movement points, where X is the number of movement points the previous player got. The first player gets one movement point.
A single movement point can be spent to move the top scoop of one cone to the top of the other cone.
X movement points can be spent to move the top X scoops of one cone to the top of the other cone, maintaining their order.
The bottommost red pieces, if present, cannot be moved.
All movement points must be spent each turn.
When all four scoops of one flavor are in a consecutive stack, the player who chose that flavor wins!
Game Notes[edit | edit source]
The red pieces belong to no one. The bottom ones represent the cones, and the middle ones your favorite topping. Or something. They just reminded me of ice cream cones, and with Ice in the name I could hardly pass up the chance to theme-ify the whole thing, now could I?
It is completely legal to move one piece or stack back and forth to burn movement points.
If you put your opponent's scoops in a stack, they win, even if it's your turn and you're not done moving. Similiarly, you still win if you put your scoops in a stack before you have spent all of your movement points.
Design Notes[edit | edit source]
This is the first game I've posted to the Wiki. I came up with it in a very short amount of time after giving myself the challenge of making a game that could be played without a flat surface. I think that despite the apparent awkwardness of holding two tall stacks in one hand, it actually works pretty well, but I have pretty large hands, so confirmation of this would be good.
I have not beta tested it much at all. I played against myself enough times to satisfy myself that the first player doesn't automatically win in a really obvious way, but there could be a slightly-less-than-really-obvious way in which he does, so serious fixage and/or scrappage could very well be in order.
However, it seems that, while very simple, it is actually pretty interesting, and that is why I have bothered to write it up here. I am totally open to the possibility that it isn't, so please don't hesitate to let me know right away if you see things wrong with it.
In a similar vein, there are A LOT of possible variants on this theme. For instance, there could be more neutral pieces, no neutral pieces, different winning patterns in which the players have to fight over certain scoops, the movement points could increase every two turns instead of every turn, etc. etc. If anything at all about this idea grabs your fancy, I would love it if you'd talk about it over on the discussion page. Thanks a lot,
Credits and Copyright[edit | edit source]
 This game is licensed under a Creative_Commons License and is copyrighted © 2005 by me, Jake Eakle |