Color

From Looney Pyramid Games Wiki
Revision as of 07:50, 17 November 2016 by imported>Nihilvor (→‎Standalone Colors)

Color is often important in Icehouse games. Color is commonly used to determine piece ownership (Pikemen, Sprawl). Some games, such as Homeworlds, Zendo, and Blockade care about what specific colors are used in the game. Others, such as Martian Chess, have no concern for color whatsoever.

History

Historically, blue, green, yellow, and red have become the standard Pyramid colors, since that was how Icehouse was manufactured and sold during its first ten years (Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set, Paper Icehouse). This tradition is reflected in the Zendo boxed set, which contains the four primary colors. The Black Ice set added clear and opaque black pieces. When single-stash tubes became available, purple, orange and opaque white were introduced. The IceTowers boxed set came with clear, opaque white, purple, and the newly-introduced cyan. The first ten colors are now available only in the Rainbow and Xeno Stash sets. Next, opaque gray was introduced for Volcano Caps [1], but has since [been discontinued]. Pink Treehouse added pink, and was the only color sold by stash and as a Treehouse set.

Current Colors

Plastic pyramid colors commercially available (as of 2012) are grouped in two five-color spectra, "Rainbow" and "Xeno." All plastic pyramid colors are translucent, other than those specifically opaque.

Rainbow

  1. Red
  2. Yellow
  3. Green
  4. Blue
  5. Black (opaque)

Xeno

  1. Cyan
  2. Purple
  3. Orange
  4. Clear
  5. White (opaque)

Standalone Colors

  1. Pink (originally sold as part of Pink Treehouse, these are now sold as part of Pink Hijinks)
  2. Green Opaques (marketed as part of the Pyramid Arcade Kickstarter, some of these were bought by stores and were available as of 2016)

Retired Colors

Plastic pyramids were made by design in these colors, but they are no longer in stock at Looney Labs.

Freak Colors

These are rare colors created by manufacturing accident. The first two were one-stash-only phenomena and sold on eBay at a premium.

  • Root Beer
  • Watermelon
  • Electric Yellow

The freak Electric Yellow pyramids were the last ones made with the US mold. They have a greenish tinge and they fluoresce somewhat. A supply of these is still present at Looney Labs, but they are for sale only to Official Starship Captains.

Colors of Non-plastic Pieces

  • Xyloid pieces were issued in blue, green, yellow, and red.
  • "Origami Icehouse" was also marketed in the four original colors.
  • Crystal Caste sells four colors/materials of stone pyramids: black obsidian, steely hematite, green aventurine, and blue jasper.

Images

A game of Timelock uses one Rainbow and one Xeno set, thus all ten current colors.

A setup for Supercalifragilisticano with nine translucent colors and two opaque.

A game of Icehouse paused for judging. Each player is using a stash of one of the four "classic" colors.

Setup for Blockade in unconventional colors: Purple/Pink v. Blue/Cyan. (Note also pink and purple dice!)

See Also

History timeline

Color Powers