IceSickle: the Martian Peg Game

A single stash game for two players.
from Dan Isaac
(Variants are available below for group and for solo games)

IceSickle (1 IceHouse stash & 5x5 board): Alternate turns placing pieces onto empty squares. Then take turns jumping a piece, diagonally or orthogonally, over at least one other piece into an empty square. Each piece can jump over its pip-count in squares. Remove the jumped pieces, and score their pips. Continue until no jumps remain. Play again with a different starting player.

The idea for this game originated at about 12:30 am (EST) Saturday, March 1, 2003

I was out, with my roommate Christy, for brunch at Cracker Barrel, and started thinking about the triangular Peg Games that they have on the tables. In particular, I was thinking about how it could be made into a two-player game where the loser is the last one to be able to make a valid jump. From there I immediately thought to use Icehouse pieces and the Volcano board to increase the number of permutations to the game.

I set the idea aside in my mind for a while as I was busy planning details for a semi-large (~10 people) Mardi Gras Dinner / Game Night later that day, and we still needed to go shopping for many of the ingredients for the dishes that we were making. (Gumbo Ya-Ya, Ham Jambalaya, Red Beans and Rice, and Turtle Soup) Sunday was spent sleeping in, cleaning up the apartment, visiting with some friends who were at a wedding the night before, and getting Christy ready for her first day of work at her new job Monday. Also, I finally checked my email from the weekend and saw that there were discussions about Deterministic Icehouse Games. (I didn’t have time to read more then the first couple of them though. But it ends up that this game would fit their description.)

Monday at work was very hectic (as most Mondays are) but I did have a little (very little) time to mull the idea a bit, and by 6:30 pm, I had a chance to bring up the idea to Ryan McGuire. I told him my basic ideas, and a few of the possibilities for how moves would work. He is the one that suggested the idea of allowing the players to start the game by placing the pieces to the board. We kicked around a few other ideas and talked about their merits and drawbacks, and by about 7:00 we both realized that we needed to get going home for the night. I said that I would compile a set of rules, and perhaps we could give them a try the next day at work.

I went home, ordered a pizza, ate, watched a tape of Gilmore Girls and Smallville from the previous week, caught up on my Icehouse emails, tried a couple of quick games of this by myself, and put together this document. (11:30 pm 03/03/03)

I spent a little time on Tuesday (Fat Tuesday to be specific) cleaning up the wording in this document with some help from Ryan, and then converted it to HTML for all of the world to see. Enjoy, and Happy Mardi Gras to you all!

From idea to reality in under 60 hours, only about 3 or 4 of which were consciously spent on the game design.

Well. Gotta go, I have a St. Patrick’s Day dinner to start thinking about…

• Dan Isaac

July 10, 2003: I have updated the rules page with a few minor tweaks.

In particular, I have modified the rules such that the basic game is played, with the "High Scoring jumps" Winning condition in a two round match with each player taking the first placement in one of the rounds.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank a few people:

• I want to thank Ryan McGuire for his suggestion of allowing the players to create the initial board layout as part of the game.
• I want to thank Elliott "Eeyore" Evans for helping me to specifically state that there should be a two-round set for each game with alternating starting players.
• I want to thank all of the people who allowed me to teach them this little game, and who have provided me with feedback. I hope that I have provided them with enjoyment. (Christy, Lee, Russel, Kory, etc.)
• I want to thank the Looneys for coming up with a wonderful game system, and a wonderful environment (both online, and in person at such events as Origins) for their multitude of fans.