Ice Ice Baby



An abstract Icehouce set collecting and auction game for 2-4 players (best with 3)

by Joss Ives
Version 1, August 29, 2005


Summary: In this game, three different sized pyramids of random colors are auctioned off each turn. These pyramids are also the good with which bids are made and players that bid at least one pyramid will all lose their bid, but in exchange get to take bids of the next highest value. Everybody wins! At the end points are awarded for having collected trees (one of each size of pyramid) and bonus points to the players who have collected the most in each of the colours.

This game requires:

• Four different coloured stashes and a bag to draw them from.
  
• A number of cards equal to the number of players that are numbered from one up to the number of players are very helpful to keep track of the order in which people have passed.
  
• The rules will assume you are using these numbered cards and they will collectively be referred to as passing cards and individually as number one, number two, etc...
  
• Dice can also be useful for this task.
  

Summary of game play:

• Setup:
• Each player randomly gets a pyramid of each size in their active area
• Randomly determine starting player
  
• A round:
• Starting player draws a pyramid of each size to put in auction area
• Scoring pyramids are placed on the scoring track and replaced with pyramid of the same size in the auction area
  
• Scoring round is triggered when total pyramids in scoring area meets or exceeds 3,6,9 or 12 pyramids
  
• Starting player places first bid of one pyramid of any size or passes
• Auction proceeds clockwise
• Players can pass or raise by at most one pyramid from the last bid
• Value of bid is determined first by number of pyramids and then pyramid size
• When a player passes they are out of that auction and take the lowest numbered passing card left and place their last bid on that card
• If a player passes without having first made a bid, there are not considered a bidding player
  
• The winner of the auction takes the highest card and the auctioned pieces, and pays their bid to the last bidding player who passed (player holding next highest numbered card)
  
• This player takes the winning bid and gives their own bid to the bidding player who passed immediately before them (descending card order)
  
• This continues until a player has no bidding player who passed before them, in which case they take the bid passed to them and places their own bid in the dead area
• If a scoring round was triggered, up to two players can make a tree from pyramids in their active area and move it to their scored area in exchange for pyramids from the dead area:
• Opportunity to do this scoring action is given to the winner of the auction and if declined passes on to each player in descending card order
• The first player who scores a tree gets two pyramids from the dead area and the second opportunity to score continues on to players in descending card order
• The second scored tree earns only one pyramid from the dead area and no further trees can be scored during the current scoring round
  
• A player cannot score more than one tree per scoring round
• Player who won the auction is the starting player in the next auction and all players give their passing cards back
  
• End of game:
• Game ends following the auction in which the 12th scoring pyramid was drawn and added to the scoring track
• A regular scoring round occurs
• Afterward, all players make trees from the pyramids remaining in their active area
• Final scoring for each player:
• 7 points - each uniformly coloured tree
• 5 points - each tree that is made up of two or more different colours
• 1 point - each remaining pyramid that was not included in a tree
• 5 point bonus awarded for each colour if player has the most of that colour. In the case of ties, each player gets 3 points

The rest of the rules will describe the summary of game play in more detail.

Setup:

• There are a number of areas on the table, with the first three being common areas for all players and the others being individual areas in front of each player:
• Scoring track (common):
  
• The scoring pyramids drawn thus far. These should be arranged so that it is easy to tell when the total number in this track is a multiple of three. This should be off to the side, but easily viewable by all players. The game will end after the auction in which twelve or more scoring pyramids are present in the scoring track.
  
• Auction area (common):
  
• The current pyramids being auctioned. This should be the middle of the table
• Dead area (common):
  
• This is where the pyramids that have been used to pay for auctions go, this should also be off to the side, but easily viewable by all players
• Active area (each player):
• Each  player will have an active area which will consist of all of that players pyramids that are currently eligible to be used for bidding. The active area should be directly in front of them. Pyramids in the active area should never be stacked.
  
• Scored area (each player):
• During the game, there will be multiple scoring rounds in which players will have the opportunity to make trees (a set of each size of pyramid) from the pyramids in their active area and move these trees to their scored area, where they will still count toward that player's final score, but these pyramids are no longer eligible to be used for bidding, nor can they be rearranged to make higher scoring pyramids later in the game. Once a tree has been moved to the scored area, it is locked in that configuration for the rest of the game. In exchange for making a tree and moving it to the scored area, players will have the opportunity to recover pieces from the dead area. Each player's dead area should be in their individual playing areas, but further away from the center of the table than the active area. The active and scored areas are easy to differentiate from each other as the scored area will be made up of only trees and the pyramids currently in the active area are never stacked.
  
• Choose one of the four stash colours as the scoring colour.
  
• If using the Zendo set, red makes an excellent scoring colour.
• Put the three non-scoring pyramids in the bag and mix them up well.
• Each player draws a pyramid of each size such that each player will start the game with three randomly coloured pyramid, one of each size.
• If the scoring colour was already included in the bag, players draw until they have one of each size of pyramid that is not a scoring colour and all of the scoring coloured pyramids that were drawn are placed back in the bag and mixed in well.
  
• Each player puts their three starting pyramids in front of them, in their active area.
• Randomly determine who will be the starting player.
  
• The easiest way is to randomly deal out the numbered cards and the player receiving the highest card will start.

Outline of game play:

• Each round will begin with the current starting player drawing a pyramid of each size from the bag.
  
• Any pyramids of the scoring that are drawn are placed in the scoring track and a pyramid of that same size is drawn to replace it in the auction area. This will continue until the area is made up completely of pyramids that are not of the scoring colour. At the end of the game, there is a chance that there will not be enough pieces to make up the auction area of three. This special case will be discussed later.
  
• Each time that the total number of scoring pyramids that has been drawn reaches or passes a multiple of three (3, 6, 9 or 12), a scoring round will follow the current auction.
• After the auction area consists of three non-scoring coloured pyramids, and all the scoring coloured pyramids have been placed in the scoring track, an auction will occur.
• The player who wins the auction will become the starting player for the next round. Details of how auctions work will be discussed later.
  
• The final scoring round will occur after the auction in which twelve or more pyramids were present in the scoring tracks. This will usually be the fourth scoring round, but not always.

The Auction:

• Each round will consist of an auction, which will sometimes be followed by a scoring round.
• Reminder: a scoring round is triggered when scoring pyramids are drawn (when making up the auction area) such that the number of  pyramids in the scoring track reaches or exceeds a multiple of three (3,6,9 or 12).
  
• The current starting player begins the bidding by either passing or bidding one pyramid of any size.
• A bid of zero is not a valid bid.
  
• Reminder: pyramids in players' active areas are the only ones that they can use for bidding, the trees in their scoring area cannot be used for bidding.
  
• Each player can either pass or make a bid which is higher than the last placed bid with a restriction of being able to only make bids that have at most one more pyramid than the last placed bid (a player can only raise by a maximum of one pyramid).
• Bidding values are described below.
  
• When making a new bid, a player is not obligated to use the pyramids from their last bid.
  
• The first player to pass will take the lowest numbered bidding card (the card numbered one) and place it in front of them.
• When a player passes, they will place their last bid from the current round on their passing card (recall the numbered cards are collectively referred to as passing cards)
• No pyramids on a player's passing card indicates they passed before making a bid and are not considered a bidding player
  
• Remember that zero pyramids is not a valid bid.
• The next player to pass will take the next highest card and so on, with all players placing their last bid before they passed on their passing card.
• The winner of the auction:
  
• Takes the highest card and places the pieces which were being auctioned in their active area
• Pays their bid to the last bidding player who passed (player holding next highest numbered card)
  
• This player holding the next highest numbered card:
• Takes the winning bid and places it in their active are
• Gives their own bid to the bidding player who passed immediately before them (descending card order)
• This continues until a player has no bidding player who passed before them, in which case they take the bid passed to them and places their own bid in the dead area.
• Remember that a player who has passed before making a bid is considered a non-bidding player.
  
• In the very rare case that all players but one passed without bidding, that last player will simply place their bid in the dead area and take the auction area pyramids and place them in their active area.
• After the auction has been completed, a scoring round will occur if it was triggered when making up the auction area by having the score track reach or exceed a multiple of three pyramids (3,6,9 or 12). In the case of twelve or more pyramids in the scoring track, the game end is triggered.
  

Bidding values:

• The value of a bid is given first by the total number of pyramids in the bid and next by the sizes of the pyramids in the bid.
• Colours have no effect on the value of the bid, only sizes and total pyramids.
• A large is worth more than a medium pyramid and a medium is worth more than a small.
• When bids have equal numbers of pyramids, the bid with the most large pyramids is considered the largest. If they both have the same number of large pyramids, the bid with the largest number of medium pyramids is considered the larger.
• Examples:
• A bid of three small pyramids is worth more than two larges (larger pyramid count).
• A bid of a large, a medium, and two smalls is worth more than four mediums (same pyramid count, but more large pyramids).

 Triggering scoring rounds:

• Following an auction in which scoring pyramids were drawn such that the number of pyramids in the scoring track meets or passes a multiple of three (3,6,9,12) there will be a scoring round
• If enough scoring pyramids are drawn such that the scoring condition is met more than once, only one scoring round is triggered and their will be one less scoring round in the game
• Example: There are 8 pyramids in the scoring track (there have been two scoring rounds already) before drawing pyramids for the current auction area. While drawing pyramids for the auction area, enough scoring pyramids are drawn to bring the number of pyramids in the scoring track up to twelve. When the twelfth pyramid had been drawn, this indicates this will be the final auction. Although pyramids were drawn to meet the scoring round condition twice (at nine and again at twelve), there is still only one scoring round following the auction in which these pyramids were all drawn. If more scoring pyramids are drawn after the twelfth, they are placed with the scoring track with no effect.
• If the pyramids in the bag are completely depleted and the current auction area is not full (there are not three pyramids in it), pyramids of the scoring colour are used to fill the sizes that are not needed. These pyramids are considered colourless and if won can only be used in non-uniform coloured trees (5pt trees) or as single 1pt pyramids. The scoring colour is never used to determine bonuses awarded to the player with the most pyramids of a single colour

 Scoring rounds:

• Following an auction in which scoring pyramids were drawn such that the number of pyramids in the scoring track meets or passes a multiple of three, there will be a scoring round
• It is important to note the following:
• The term scored refers to moving a tree from the active are to the scored area and not to actually tabulating any points. The tabulating of points is only done at game end.
• A player cannot score more than one tree in a given scoring round.
• No more than two player can score a tree in a given scoring round.
  
• After the auction has been completed, the player who won the auction has the opportunity to move a tree to their scoring area in exchange for pyramids. They will make a tree from the pyramids in their current active area (uniform colour/5pt or multi-colour/7pt) and move the tree to their scored area. In exchange that player gets to take any two pyramids from the dead area. If there are not two pyramids in the dead area, they take only as many as there are
• If the player who won the auction declines to score a tree, the next highest numbered card is given this opportunity and so on.
• After a player has scored a tree in exchange for two pyramids from the dead pool, the player with the next highest card is given the opportunity to score a tree for one pyramid from the dead area.
• Once a second player has cashed in a tree, no other players can cash in any trees during that scoring round
• After the scoring round, another auction area is drawn from the bag and play continues. It is possible that scoring rounds are triggered in consecutive auctions

 Final scoring:

• After the final scoring round (after the auction in which at least the twelfth scoring pyramid was drawn) each player makes trees from the pyramids remaining in their active area. The trees in their scored area are not allowed to be disassembled to make higher scoring trees. Each tree that is a uniform colour is worth 7 points and trees that contain more than one colour are worth 5 points. Any remaining pyramids are worth one point each
• Five bonus points are assigned for each colour to the player with the most pyramids of that colour. In the event of a tie between two or more players, each of the tied players receives 3 points.
• The player with the most points at the end is the winner
• The tie breaker is determined by the bidding value of each of the tied players total collected pyramids.
• i.e. the player with the most pyramids will win the tie breaker. If both players have the same number of pyramids, the tied player with the most large pyramids wins the tie-breaker, and so on. 
  

Variant for a shorter game (especially good for 2 players):

• This variant is primarily for 2 players, but can serve as a shorter game for any number of players
• The game is played exactly as normal except that scoring rounds are triggered on multiples of two instead of three
• i.e. following the auction in which pyramids were added to the scoring track and the number in the scoring track has met or exceeded 2, 4, 6 or 8 pyramids, there will be scoring round.
• Note that it is quite likely that there will be less than four scoring rounds due to a number of scoring pyramids being drawn during a single round such that the scoring trigger condition is met more than once in a single round. Recall that when this occurs, only a single scoring round occurs.