A newsletter for Icehouse players

An Introduction by Dr Cool

Well folks, here we find ourselves in another issue of Hypothermia, and BIG THINGS are happening, yay! The people at Icehouse Games weren't happy enough with one really strange game (even if it did get a patent an award, and cetera) so they invented a few more (ever so slightly) strange games. Enclosed with this Hypo you'll find other games to play with those pointy things that also work really well as caltrops to slow your pursuing enemies down, if they're barefoot. Your enemies, that is, not the pointy things.

Some of you may have noticed us sitting around Balticon a few weeks ago, playing Arcana, a creepy game with Icehouse pieces and Tarot cards. Well, OK, it's not creepy, but it is a bit wacky, and some Icehouse veterans have motioned that it's "better than Icehouse" (cough cough). That's OK; we were hoping to get better. I like to think of Arcana as a more acceptable game than Icehouse; it's a game with turns! The rules may look a bit daunting at first, but try it out. Who knows? It may become another one of your awful addictions, sitting right up there on the shelf, next to your Pogs, Magic, and Prozac. Just kidding; who uses Pogs anymore?

In addition, there are several other fine games that can be learned quickly and played roughly. Trice is an eye pleasing game for three players that involves deception and sometimes a little luck. Martian Chess is played on a Chessboard by two or four players; it requires an alien way of thinking in order to win. Focus is played with a Magic deck, and has the added fun of winning goals being kept secret from other players. Igloo is a non-board-based thinker's game in which a certain understanding of sacrifice is needed to play well (something I have yet to learn). If you like any of the new ice-games, come to the first International Other Icehouse Games Tournament (sounds awkward doesn't it?), which will be held the day after the Eighth (!!!) Icehouse tournament at Disclave this year. More scheduling info is enclosed, along with information on new wicked T-shirts that you'll wanna buy.

Also, check out Hypo-12's review of Tournament Seven, some fantastic tournament strategies written by real honest to-goodness experts (for a change), and Chesshouse, for those of you who want to mutilate your pieces.

Enjoy!

dr cool

FIVE TOURNAMENT WINNING STRATEGIES

From 1995's Tournament Winner, Elliott C. "Eeyore" Evans

Strategy #1: Get your pieces out there

Icehouse is a game of position, and the best position you can have is right in the middle of the snowball. The snowball forms early, and if you're quick you can get a fortress made almost entirely of your opponents' pieces.

Be careful about leaving tiny gaps. If you have to, play more pieces around your initial two to build up the snowball. The faster you can get pieces around the snowball, the more pieces you'll have in the most defensible place on the table.

Try to get some attacks in there too. As the snowball builds, it will lock those attacks into place until the end of the game. Try to orchestrate the growth of the snowball so that it surrounds your attacks, but leaves the attacks on your pieces open enough for later play.

Strategy #2: Get prisoners

Besides an uncrackable fortress, prisoners are simply the most useful thing you can have in a game. With only a few prisoners you can restructure every attack on your pieces. With a couple of good prisoners on your pad you'll be able to place defensive pieces right out in the open and nobody will attack them for fear of restructuring.

Prisoners move you from a reactive strategy to an active strategy. Get them any legal way you can. Make deals, and watch like a hawk for over-icing. Don't worry about watching for crashes. People will usually call their own crashes, and if they don't, the judges will. If the player wants you to have the piece you'll get it, so don't beg. However, if the player asks, 'Who should I give this to?" always answer "Me." It can't hurt

Hopefully I don't need to tell you what a windfall calling Icehouse can be. The player who calls Icehouse can most frequently win the game if the call involves three or more pieces. Keep your eyes open, not just for board position, but for play patterns. If a player seems to be desperately scrabbling for a fortress, see if it's getting chilly.

Strategy #3: Don't be afraid of sacrifice

Don't be afraid to sacrifice pieces to get fortresses or prisoners. If somebody's restructuring an attack, sometimes you can sacrifice a one pointer in front of the carefully positioned pieces and snag a prisoner. A 3-point prisoner is definitely worth a pawn sacrifice.

Don't be afraid to sacrifice your big pieces at the edges of the play area to block your inner defenders. As long as these pieces remain on the outside they can be rescued later.

Strategy #4: Play cool

This would seem to be obvious, but you should always keep it in mind. I mean always. Use it as a game-time mantra if you have to, but not out loud.

Play nice, and try to keep your voice in a conversational tone.

Call your own crashes if you see them. If a judge or another player sees a crash that you didn't, acquiesce with a minimum of struggle. If you crash a lot, try to spread your points around fairly to keep one player from getting a huge advantage.

Try to keep alliances and enmities confined to individual games. It's OK to hold grudges until the end of the game, but after that, move on with your life. Your worst enemy in one game may turn out to be your best friend in the next.

Listen to the music. It helps if you already enjoy artists like Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, and Angelo Badalamenti. Stay relaxed so your hands won't twitch as much.

Make jokes, especially about your own mistakes.

Shake hands at the end of the game.

Compliment the other players when they deserve it. Thank them if they do something nice for you.

Have fun.

Strategy #5: Count points

Count points. Count points. Count points. I mean it.

You need to know who's winning, and who's losing, especially if you're one of the two. You need to know who needs attacking, and who you can safely make deals with. You need to know who you can safely give a crash victim to. Often, you need to know these things instantly, so you'd better already know what the score is.

If the game ends and you don't know the score, you probably didn't win.

THE GATEWAY DEFENSE

By Keith Baker

The Gateway Defense is a strategy which allows you to squander your opponent's pieces, defend your own pieces and possibly pick up a few prisoners all at the same time. It is particularly useful in Mercenary, Kidnapper or Team Icehouse- where you can rely on getting prisoners by the end of the game- but it can be used in any game in which you have managed to pick up a few prisoners.

Building a gateway is simple. Towards the edge of the playing area, set out two 3-pt pieces. Place a I -point piece directly between the 3-pointers-- the final formation is shown in figure 1. When one of the 3-point pieces is iced, over ice and restructure the attack, then crossblock by attacking your I-pt with a prisoner (figures 2 and 3). If your opponents re-ice the 3-pointer, over-ice the I-pointer and remove the crossblock-- "opening" the gate and giving you four points of prisoners (figure 4), after which you can replace the cross-block, leaving you back where you started.

Initially, you may be able to use this strategy with only a single prisoner. Overzealous players will ice all three gateway pieces, allowing you to use your single prisoner as the key to operate the gate on both sides, as shown in figure 5. Note that the gateway piece is over-iced and either blocker can be removed at any time. The I-point attacker on the lower piece has been left alone. Because I-point pieces must remain close to their target, it is sometimes best to ignore them, to leave a little more maneuvering room around the gateway.

Experienced players will attempt to block access to the central gateway piece, so it is essential to start the gate in an area with lots of space and to try to leave space around the gateway pieces. Once your opponents know what to expect, they won't fall for the Gateway trick so easily. But if you have a prisoner or two, a gateway formation will certainly give your opponents something to think about.

RESULTS OF THE SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL ICEHOUSE TOURNAMENT

Well, it's been almost a year now since the 7th Tourney, so we figure it's about time we announced the results from that swell event. We only had 10 competitors in last year's tourney, so it was a small, intimate affair, which was fine because we held it in a small, intimate hotel function room. Actually, it was sometimes difficult for the players to set up games that would allow them to meet their minimum player requirements. As a result the refs decided to lower the minimum number of opponents from 7 to 6. You may notice that, as a result, the rules for this year's tourney have been changed to specify the minimum required number of opponents in terms that can vary with the number of players in the event. The 8th Tourney rules also include a cut-off time, after which new players won't be permitted to enter the competition.

At the end of the Ice-offs, the scores were as follows:

   Donovan Chase  128      Greg Crowe     103
   Rob Bryan      128      Eeyore Evans   273
   John White     216      Dave Wendland   37
   Jeff Poretsky  198      Joe Hertz      144
   Dale Newfield  185      Paul King       52

Then, at the end of the finals, the scores were:

   Eeyore Evans   432 
   John White     218 
   Jeff Poretsky   78 
   Dale Newfield  174

And so, as you can see, Elliott "Eeyore" Evans became the new champion Icehouse player. Congratulations, Eeyore!

As for the coveted Cooler Than Ice award, the refs noted first and foremost that everyone had been playing with distinct coolness and that the decision was very difficult. They narrowed it down to Greg Crowe, Dave Wendland, and Rob Bryan, and then debated for a long time (while a crowd stood out in the hallway, waiting impatiently for them to finish up so they could go to dinner). They finally decided to award the medal to Greg Crowe, for his jovial sense of coolness. Way to go, Greg!

Special thanks go to Dave Bondi, who did the art for this year's winner's medallions, and to Keith Baker, former champion, who helped with refereeing this year's event.

CHESSHOUSE: Modifying an Icehouse Set to Serve as a Chess Set

By Elliott C. "Eeyore" Evans

Purpose

Wouldn't it be wonderful if a single backpack could contain every game we might want to play? Travel would certainly be easier. We wouldn't mind waiting in lines so much.

A deck of cards certainly helps, but sometimes you want the extra stimulation that only a board game can provide. Icehouse is, of course, perfect if you have enough people, but sometimes you only have two. For two players, Chess is a classic, and more than enough game for anybody. If you're not just anybody, plenty of Chess variants provide endless hours of stimulation.

To enable people who like both Chess and Icehouse to carry sets of each in a compact form, I came up with the idea of making a Chess set out of Icehouse pieces. Originally, I thought of buying extra Xyloid pieces and having a dedicated set, but Andy Looney pointed out to me that you could make each side out of two colors, and thus was born Chesshouse

My goal was to design a Chess set that could be fashioned from an Icehouse set, and would leave the Icehouse pieces in a playable condition. My designs, if played with particular faces to the table, have no significant difference in footprint from unmodified Icehouse pieces.

For instance, the slotted piece shown in the middle, below, if rotated shows a completely unaltered triangular profile. If this side is placed against the table in an attack, the piece is strategically indistinguishable from an unaltered piece. Even if the slotted side is used against the table, if you take care to keep points and comers out of the slot it will not change the game.

Before I start, just a quick word about color. Each side in the chess set will be made out of two colors. Try to pick your pairings so that your set will look good, and so that the sides will be distinguishable from each other. I chose to put blue and green on the same side since in the xyloid sets these colors can look the same in dim light. Also, red and gold were my high school colors. If you're not sure you will be able to remember which colors are which side, Dan Efran suggests painting black or white bands around the base of the pieces.

Disclaimer:

I'm not responsible for any pieces you ruin while trying to make a chess set. Personally, I wrecked a few of my favorite xyloids while experimenting, so clearly it's not easy. If you wind up having to replace your whole set don't blame me, though recommending me for a sales commission to Kristin would be appreciated.

Also, please view these plans as merely suggestions. I took a minimalist approach, mostly because I'm lazy. Clearly you could be more elaborate, carving more representational designs into the sides. (First person to carve Leo McKern's face into a 3-pointer wins 1800 work units.) You could also be less destructive, simply decorating the pieces to designate them. Be creative.

What You Need

To follow my designs you'll need enough Icehouse pieces for four players, preferably a xyloid set, but any set you can work with tools would be fine. Really you only need 32 of the 60 pieces, distributed as follows:

• One 3-pointer of each color (4 in all)
• Three 2-pointers of each color (12 in all)
• Four I-pointers of each color (16 in all)

You'll also need some tools:

• A drill with a 1/8th inch bit
• A fine saw
• Sandpaper or a fine small file for cleaning

Also, if you're using pre-stained pieces you'll might want some matching stains to cover up the bare wood exposed by your modifications. Permanent markers might do the trick.

The Pieces

	Pawns Pawns are simply 1 -pointers, unmodified. Use four of each color.
	Rooks Rooks are 2-pointers with holes drilled through them. You could probably get away with just one hole, but two holes, drilled perpendicularly, makes more sense. Be careful you don't snap off the tip, or you'll have to glue it back on. Make one Rook of each color.
	Knights Knights have notches cut out of one side to simulate the horse's head. Make two cuts at an angle on each piece, or you could even use a rough file. Make one Knight of each color.
	Bishops Use the saw to cut angled slots into each Bishop to represent the slot usually found on Bishop pieces. You could cut the slot into a side, or for a more dashing look, cut the slot into a comer edge. Make one Bishop of each color.
	Queens Since the Queen piece combines the abilities of a Bishop and a Rook, her design combines the designs of those pieces. I would recommend drilling the holes first. Choose two 3-pointers to make Queens out of.
	Kings The design of the King is meant to represent a Pawn, elevated by nobility. Try to cut the double notches so that a 1 pointer sized pyramid is sitting on top of a base. If you don't mind altering the footprint of these pieces if used to attack, cut notches all the way around. Make only two Kings, using the remaining two 3-pointers.

Blahrdy, blahrdy, blahrdy...

Chesshouse pieces are not only convenient for your backpack of games, but serve to confuse both Chess players and Icehouse players in equal measure. For added fun, try playing both games simultaneously! (Author is not responsible for any injuries that may occur.)

Stay cool!

Q Suppose I crash, but before I've actually given away the piece in my hand, someone calls Icehouse. Do I give the piece away before the Icehouse call is resolved, or do I put the piece back on my pad and give it away after we figure out if anyone is in the Icehouse?

A You give it away first. As soon as it is recognized that you crashed, the piece in your A hand no longer belongs to you, even if you take a moment to decide who gets it. If you have no un-iced defenders and that piece was your eighth piece, you are open to being put in the Icehouse, and the vultures you're playing with may not want to wait to find out who gets that piece before calling Icehouse.

This leads to an interesting strategic situation. If a crash and an Icehouse call occur simultaneously, and you are the one who crashed, but you aren't in danger of being put in the Icehouse, and there's a player with 7 stashed pieces and no un-iced defenders, then you might want to give that player the crashed piece. This would keep the poor player out of the icehouse and, more importantly for you, keep the person who called Icehouse (invalidly, at this point) from getting a whole squad of prisoners.