A newsletter for Icehouse players
| Volume 2, Number 1 | May, 1991 |
An Introduction by Dr Cool
Yo, Icers!
Been a while, hasn't it? Bet you thought you had seen your last Hypothermia, dincha? Yeh, well, I missed you, too. Honest. My fellow ice-mates who don't procrastinate half as well as I do (excuse the bragging) have, decided it's time to catch up with the goings-on. So here's a quick run-down with more details inside:
Tournament coming up, so start practicing now! Hope you can all make it, especially the veterans of the last grueling Tourney. A special personal note to those brave ice warriors who made it through the first rounds last year: As this is only the third tournament, the rules have changed slightly (again) to lessen the death toll due to migraine headaches caused by unbearable tension. Please dont give up. We need as many veterans of the last event as possible to show the new players how it's done. I will personally see to it that plenty of beverages will be provided to all of the hardcore "I'm-not gonna-leave-this-room" players (Don't worry, early risers; you'll get your doughnuts). Those of you who haven't played in a while, start practicing!, It will definitely help. Subtleties of play leave so quickly when you haven't studied the game. I played some games the other night, and made incredible mistakes -- even melted down once. Practice! Nuff said.
Included in this issue are some nice strategies to enrage your opponents. Have fun. No mercy. Destroy. Etc.
Number 12 has come up with a wonderful, workable, solitaire variation of Icehouse' We would like input on this (and any other) variation from our readers. Drop us a line or talk to us at the tournament. You will be at the tournament, won't you?
I'm sure some of you are wondering when the new Icehouse sets will be coming out. Well, we are too. For those of you who weren't lucky enuff to have nabbed one of the original 100 sets and who have been patiently waiting for the next edition, we must unfortunately ask you to keep being patient. The new generation of Icehouse sets is in the works, but if s still gonna be awhile before we have them for sale. The new sets will be a hundred times better than the old ones, but we've still got some business-related obstacles to overcome before we can start producing them. (In other words, we still need a rather large business loan! Right now we're hoping for help from the Small Business Administration.)
As for me, my accident money's beginning to roll in, so I'm getting ready to buy important stuff for my bike. Corbin seat, matching tank bra, NKG plug wires, maybe some luggage bars, a tank bag, another jacket maybe, a helmet, gloves, leather pants, some boots, a tent... Im like a kid in a candy shop. So if you get inna wreck, make sure it's the other guy's fault and don't get too hurt. (I can't decide whether I'm too hurt or not, yet.)
-- Dr Cool
Q Suppose I set out a defending piece but I don't let go of it, you know, I've got my finger on it and I'm trying to decide if I really want to play it where I've got it. What happens if someone sets out an attack piece and lets go of it while I'm still holding onto my defender? Can I take my defender back and leave his attack piece sitting out there, attacking nothing?
A Yes you can. If your opponent is dum enough to let go of his piece while you've still got your finger on yours, he deserves what he gets. The snack piece is squandered, and stays where it is. Unless someone puts a defender in front of it, he'll get zero points for that piece.
Q Look at this picture. I recently encountered this situation in a game, and my opponent said this was a legitimate wall. It doesn't make any sense to me. Is this really a wall?
A Yes, it really is a wall. However, this question is not quite as simple as that. It opens up a proverbial Pandora's box.
Different players have different styles and attitudes, and one of the biggest differences in the way different people play Icehouse is the way they think about walls. Some players don't like to be bothered by walls except when they really seem relevant; other players really enjoy the finer details of the wall rules and are always on the lookout for complex and unusual wall situations.
Who's right? Well, everybody is. One of the great things about Icehouse is that it works on many levels. Actually, you don't have to use the wall rules at all to play Icehouse. The game works fine even if you throw these rules out entirely. Or you can also play Icehouse with only a casual concern for walls. And finally of course, you can play Icehouse at the nitty-gritty level, with a strict eye searching out anything anywhere that works as a wall. And you can have a great time playing Icehouse at any of these levels, just the way a kid on a miniature golf course and someone who plays golf professionally can both have a great time hitting a little white hall with a club. The only time you'll have problems is when different attitudes about walls meet at the same Icehouse table.
The wall rules were originally created to define how far into a line of obstructing pieces an attack piece had to penetrate in order to ice a piece inside a fortress. it could therefore be argued that the spirit of the rules is for a wall to be of concern only when the pieces anchoring the wall actually create a meaningful obstruction. Clearly, there's no meaningful obstruction in the example shown, but it's impossible to define "meaningful obstruction" in precise enough terms to write into the rules. Because of this, the actual written rules allow many strange and unusual walls that were never imagined when the wall rules were originally created. But so what? The example shown is just one of the many abstract walls that can be created if you study the details of the wall rule& To a player who is intrigued by unusual walls, this just makes Icehouse a richer and more enjoyable game.
Nevertheless, conflicting attitudes exist, and they can sometimes be hard to deal with. When a player who pays close attention to the technical details of waft-(sometimes called a "Wall Technician') plays against someone who prefers to notice a wall only when, philosophically, it really SEEMS like a wall (sometimes called a "Wall Philosopher), the game can be very frustrating, particularly for the Wall Philosopher.
Here are some strategies to help Wall Philosophers deal with Wall Technicians. First of all, always be careful to play your attacks so that the tip of your attack piece is as close as possible to your victim. If the attack piece in your picture had been played a bit more carefully, the wall in question wouldn't matter. Also, take heart! That one attack may be lost, but your opponent has two other defenders sitting out there, just begging to be iced. So get 'em! But perhaps the best strategy is to fight fire with fire. Try creating some strange walls of your own, and give the Wall Technicians a taste of their own medicine. Sometimes this strategy can work wonders. Take another look at the obscure wall in your picture. If you add another piece to that equation, you can create a new wall that supersedes the old wall, and thereby saves your attack.
Another way of dealing with Wall Technicians is by playing with either the Timer or the Kidnapper variations. While your opponent is fiddling around with a piece, trying to set up an obscure wall that will neutralize one of your attacks, the timer can be running down or, better still, you can be kidnapping and executing his unplayed pieces.
Dear Doctor Cool,
Hi! It's me, Roseanne Roseannadanna, writing from The Beyond. Normally I don't do this. Write from The Beyond I mean. But Emily Litella and I have been wondering and I just had to ask: What's all this nonsense I hear about the Icehouse Effect? I mean how could a pretty little game like that be destroying the Ouzo Lair? I mean maybe if you tossed lots and lots of the pieces real high and their pointy little ends cut up enough of the ooze, well maybe that might cause some problems. But what's the probability of that? I think people ought to worry about more practical things like what happens if you get a three pointer stuck in your nose, or what you should do if you see some drool on someone else's stash pad. You know what I mean? When someone is concentrating so hard and just forgets to shut his mouth, and some spit with maybe some food goes plop right there on the pad. Now that's something. But it's always something, as my Daddy used to say. He'd say: "My Little Roseanne Roseannadanna" (He always called me "My Little Roseanne Roseannadanna"). "My Little Roseanne Roseannadanna," he'd say, "why don't you invent a good game like chess?" Well, it looks like you did. And we like it, even if it does raise ultraviolence.
All the Best, RR & EL
PS - Emily says: "Congratulations on your U.S. Pattern, but wouldn't it be cheaper to use Butterick?"
Dear RR & EL,
Well, Excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse Me!
-- Dr Cool
Created by Charles Dickson and David Schrader
Solitaire! The one player version of Icehouse is now a reality. Naturally, this variation is a good deal less exciting am multi-player Icehouse; however, it can assist the player in skill and speed development. After all, "Solitaire is what you do when you don' t have anything else to do anyway." This variation uses normal Icehouse rules, with one exception: in Solitaire Icehouse, it is legal to attack an attack piece. (This rule is borrowed from Advanced Icehouse.)
Icehouse Solitaire uses a normal 4 player set. To begin, set up in the defensive position a certain number of pieces from each color, and put the rest down in attack position. Set up each color the same way. Make sure that all of the defending pieces can be iced by the remaining attackers. The easiest way to do this is to consider the ratio of pieces within each color group. For instance, if you set up two 3's, two 2's, and two 1's, then 18 points worth of attack pieces will be left over, which is just enough to ice all of defenders. After setting up the pieces, mix them up by swirling them around, being careful not to let the standing up pieces tip over, or the attack pieces stand up. This requires something of a smooth playing surface, although it is easier to do than you might think. The pieces can be as densely or loosely packed together as you wish. When you're done you should have a jumble of pieces, with attack pieces pointing every which way and a scattering of defensive pieces.
The goal of Solitaire is to put every color in the Icehouse before you get stuck and are unable to move. This is done by determining an order of colors (for example, Red-Yellow-Green-Blue), and then picking up and replaying attack pieces, one at a time, in order of color. If you can't make a move in a certain color, the game ends. You may only pick up attack pieces which are failing to make successful attacks. A failed attack in Icehouse Solitaire is any attack which is not pointing at a defensive piece (any color), and is not pointing at an attack piece of its own color. For an additional challenge, you also can't pick up a piece which is pointing at another piece from farther away than its own length, or one winch is pointing unobstructed towards the edge of the table (from any length).
In the order of color, pick up attack pieces and replay Own, either pointing at a defender or in a new unsuccessful attack deployment. A different option for each move is to respond to an over-icing situation, if a piece of the correct color is over-iced. In this case, you capture and re-play an over-icing attack piece, just don't forget what turn the move was (the color of the defense, not the attack piece). Over-icing applies only to defensive pieces. Lastly, if you crash, either attempting to remove or to place a piece, you must replay the piece defensively, further complicating the game for you.
Helpful hints: 1) Omit the "additional challenge" rules if you wish. 2) Varying the setup allows you to play at your best skill level; more defenders leave less room for error. My favorite starting setup is two 3's, one 2, and one 1; it seems to have just the right amount of difficulty. 3) At the end of each turn, check to see if you've won (are all colors in the Icehouse?) and look for everything thats squandered or over-iced. 4) You can "unstick" attack pieces which can't be moved by playing other colored attack pieces in their path. 5) Be careful not to forget where you are in the order of colors; it's easy to get lost. 6) It's helpful to plan your over-icing moves ahead. 7) For another extra challenge, play each game out so that there are no unsuccessful attack pieces left. 8) Dealing with walls is up to the player, they tend to complicate things, though they can also add more challenge. Rulings on any unusual situations are up to you. 9) You might want to experiment with unequal setups between colors. 10) Finally, remember that in normal Icehouse, you are not allowed to attack an attack piece. Therefore, be careful not to get too comfortable with this concept when playing Icehouse Solitaire.
This is a good tactic to use when a game has hit a slow point and you want to shake things up. For this maneuver to be really effective, you'll need a high value prisoner and several locations where pieces belonging to you are iced, out in the open.
Here's how it works. You take your prisoner and over-ice your own piece. Then you reposition the original attack piece so that it's back a short distance from the victim (but is still within range). In other words, you force the original attack piece to retreat Then you recapture your prisoner and do the same thing to all of your other defensive pieces, at least to as many as you
Then, sit back and see what happens. This tactic should shake up the players whose pieces you've forced to retreat. All of the retreated pieces are open to squandering, by tip blocking, by obstructing the attack with other pieces, and by building walls.
This tactic won't win you many friends, but it may keep you out of the Icehouse. Timing is everything. Often, a player will build a fortress by first building a shell and then dropping a piece into the enclosed space. If you see another player building such a shell, you can get your piece ready while they're building the fortress walls. Then, you can drop your piece into their fortress shell while they are reaching for the piece they plan on putting in. Nasty ... but effective and deliciously evil.
Quickly look over the playing field and mentally tally the scores. If one player is beating the living daylights out of everybody else, then the losers might want to pool their resources in order to defeat the common enemy. Three players working together can do a lot of damage to one player, no matter how good he or she is. If you're lucky, the scores will balance out - with yours on top. Tip: The Prisoner Exchange works very well in conjunction with this strategy.
It should be obvious by now that prisoners are extremely valuable. Finding fan and useful things to do with prisoners is usually easy. On the other hand, obtaining a new prisoner when you need one is usually a bit more difficult. Here is a strategy that can help bring in fresh inmates. It can also be very useful in loosening up stagnant games. However, it requires a bit of diplomacy, so it only works in games with 3 or more players.
Suppose Dr Cool, Number 12, and the Emperor of the Universe are involved in a game of Icehouse. They hit a slow point. Everybody has a secure fortress there aren't any available attacks, and one has a prisoner.
Dr Cool looks over the situation. He finds a spot where one of his 2-pointers is being attacked by a 3-pointer belonging to the Emperor. He then finds a spot where Number 12 has a 2-pointer that has been iced by the Emperor. Both 2-pointers are out in the open enough that they can be over-iced. Dr Cool quietly says to Number 12, "If you over ice me here I'll over-ice you there. Then we can each capture one of the Emp's pieces." Number 12 nods in agreement, then they both follow through with the scheme. Now Number 12 and Dr Cool each have a prisoner. Naturally, the Emperor is very upset by this, and threatens to have them both shot. This maneuver is called a "Prisoner Exchange."
This strategy can be risky, but can also be effective. To use it, you need to find an attack situation in which the tip of an attack piece is some distance away from the victim piece. Then all you do is steal the attack - you place your attack piece in front of the other attack piece, blocking its attack and allowing yours alone to succeed.
The danger here is that if the victim piece gets over-iced, the owner of that piece could first capture your piece, then go on to capture the original attacking piece. If the player has a prisoner he can do the over-icing himself-, but even if he needs an ally, he probably won't have much trouble finding one, since the player whose attack piece you squandered will almost certainly be willing to help. Better his piece should be a prisoner than simply sit there squandered. Therefore, exercise caution when using this strategy.
Plans for the Third International Icehouse Tournament are under way! The world's best Icers will be on hand to try to wrench the Icehouse scepter from Ruth Conley, who took possession of it at last year's tournament. In addition to providing an arena for gut-wrenching games of Icehouse, the tourney also allows a social environment for expert and novice players alike. The tournament will be held during the Memorial Day weekend at the Sheraton Hotel at 8500 Annapolis Road in New Carrollton, MD (call 301-459-6700 for directions). Look for posted bulletins in the hotel announcing the room number for the Tournament Room. (Or you can ask at the front desk for Charles Dicksons room.)
The registration fee for this year's tournament will be $14.00, which includes a Third International Icehouse Tournament T-shirt. (See the T-shirt ad elsewhere in this issue.) The T-shirts can be purchased ala carte for $10.00, and if you want to compete but don't want a shirt, you can register for $4.00.
TOURNAMENT RULES CHANGES
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Friday 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm: Players are not required to arrive and/or register on Friday. Those who want low numbers may wish to register early. nose who want to practice or learn the game do not have to register.
Saturday 10:00 am to 9:00 pm: Players may register at any time during the day. They may play as many games during this phase as they wish. The only requirement for advancing to the next round is that they win a given number of games. The number of wins required to avoid elimination will be announced by the referees at 4:00 pm, based on the number of people in the tournament and the number of available slots in the next round. Until the official number is announced, players should assume the required numbers of wins is 2. (Last year, the number of wins required remained at 2.) Those players who do not win the requisite total number of games will be eliminated from Sunday's competition.
Players do not need to stay in the Tournament room, or even in the hotel, except when they are involved in a match. Players will not be assigned to tables or other players; instead, tables for official games will be provided in a loose "Restaurant style", in which four players can request and be directed to a table. Assistance will be given to people looking for playing partners.
All official games played during the tournament will be Timer Icehouse, with a standard timer duration of 20 minutes.
Sunday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm: Players who made it through the qualifying round will have 7 hours during which they must play 5 games. Of these 5 games, their 3 best games will be picked, provided these 3 games are played against a total of 6 or more other players. A rating based on these games [scoresum * (#wins+1)] will be given to each player. The top four players will advance to the final match.
Sunday 8:00 pm until conclusion: The four finalists will square off in a grueling five game match. The winner of the tournament will be the player with the highest rating.
RSVP? No need to respond, but it might give us an idea of how many players will show up. (We're hoping for at least forty.) If you get a chance, please drop us a line, or give a call.
Here is the striking design for this year's tourney T-shirt. One of
these shirts is included in the $14 registration fee. They are also
being sold separately, for $10, so that you can buy extras to give as
gifts to friends, save as collectors items, or have around as spares in
case your first one wears out. Sizes will mostly be XL. Advance orders
are welcome strongly recommended if you want any size other than XL!
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