Description
Each stash or set of Icehouse pieces consists of fifteen pyramids (variously called pieces, pyramids, or minions) of the same color in three different point (or pip) values: five large 3-point pyramids (called queens in some games), five medium 2-point pyramids (sometimes called drones), and five small 1-point pyramids (or pawns). The commercially produced plastic sets are hollow and can be stacked and nested; this feature isn't used in the original Icehouse game, but is taken advantage of in some of the other Icehouse-based games listed below.
Icehouse pieces were, for many years, sold as tubes containing one stash of durable crystal-look plastic pieces in one of ten available colors (though cyan was only available through their promotional program or as part of the Ice Towers set). There was also a less expensive starter set called Origami Icehouse (later called Paper Icehouse), made of cardstock in four colors, which one punched out and folded into the pyramid shapes. In 2006, Looney Labs began selling Icehouse pieces as Treehouse sets, which are multicolored sets of 15 pyramids: five colors, each color having one each of the three sizes. Looney Labs has also sold boxed sets for Zendo and IceTowers; the latter contained cyan pieces. The Icehouse website also has instructions for making your own pieces. Looney Labs has licenced Crystal Caste LLC to make regulation-sized Icehouse pieces out of semiprecious stone.
In 2001, Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set won the Origins Award for Best Abstract Board Game of 2000. In 2004, the Zendo boxed set won Best Abstract Board Game of 2003. In 2006, Treehouse won the Origins Award for Best Board Game of 2006.
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