Venusian Bowling (or "WHY SHOULD MARTIANS HAVE ALL THE FUN???")
History
102,000 years ago (2000
years before the Martian civilization reached its peak) the Venusians crushed
the Martians early pyramids with their superior polyhedron shape. Today the
only thing that remains of the Venusians is this game... (As well as a primitive Earthling
obsession with collecting massive numbers of small, colorful polyhedrons with
numbers inscribed on the surface)
Equipment needed
At least 1 Icehouse Stash (each
piece of which is referred to as a pin)
Mouse pad
A ball, usually a small icosahedron (more commonly
known as a d20)
Paper and Writing Utensil to keep score with
Vesuvian Bowling Basics
A complete game consists of 5 cubes. Each player tries to knock down 15 pins in
each cube. Each player is allowed to bowl 3 balls per cube.
Exceptions:
1) If you knock down all the pins on the 1st or 2nd ball,
you will not need the 2nd or 3rd respectively.
2) If you score a strike in the 5th cube,
you are entitled to 3 bonus balls.
3) If you score a spare in
the 5th cube, you are entitled to 2 bonus balls.
After each ball has been thrown, all the pins that were knocked down are
removed from play, leaving only the pins still in play upright.
NOTE: "KNOCK DOWN" means that a pin is no longer upright
and/or that it has left the borders of the mouse pad. If a pin is still
touching the mouse pad and upright, it is still in play.
Pin Arrangement
In a tournament game the pins are arranged in a cross formation touching each
other, centered on an overturned mouse pad.
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The extra medium and small pins
are stacked on top of the center large forming exactly one tree.
In a non-tournament game, a player may
arrange the pins any way desired, as long as: 1) a pin touches at least one
other pin, 2) there is no more than one tree and 3) all pieces are upright.
Check out the Icehouse
Signatorium for some ideas on pin arrangement. Also in a non-tournament
game, players may agree to use any object as the ball as long as every player
in the game agrees and every player uses the same ball.
Rolling the Ball
The ball is propelled
towards the pins from any side, at any angle. A throw is legal if the ball
leaves the player's hand before it crosses the plane of the mouse pad. Crossing
the plane of the mouse pad is known as a FOUL (scored with an F) and you
receive no score for that ball no matter how many pins were knocked down.
Scoring
STRIKES: If you knock down all the pins on the first ball,
you have scored a strike (indicated with an X) and have earned a bonus for that
cube. Your bonus is the number of pins you knock down with the next three
balls. Your score will be 30 (for the strike) and the number of pins on the
next three balls.
SPARES: If you knock down all the pins with two balls, you have scored a spare
(indicated with a /) and earned a bonus for that cube. Your bonus is the number
of pins you knock down with the 1st two
balls of the next cube. Your score will be 30 (for the spare) and the bonus
pins on the next two balls.
SAVES: If you knock down all the pins with three balls, you have scored a
save (indicated with a *) and earned a bonus for that cube. Your bonus is the
number of pins you knock down with the 1st
ball of the next cube. Your score will be 30 (for the save) and the bonus pins
on the next ball.
If you fail to knock down all the pins in a
cube, your score is the actual number of pins knocked down based on the size of
the pins. A large pin scores 3, a medium pin scores 2
and a small pin scores 1.
Winning
The player with the highest