piecepack pyramid vs icehouse

["Tim Schutz" <hexchex@...>]

I?ve been watching the great Icehouse and piecepack pyramids debate, and have been meaning to put my two cents I just haven?t found the time to do so. Now that I finally found time here it is.

As far as Andy?s patent I fully understand his intent and believe that he has the right to protect his game ideas any way he deems necessary. I did consider patenting Alpha Playing Cards at one time. I?ve read Andy?s letter and I believe that he is just trying to protect his idea from being stolen from the larger well-funded Big Evil Corporation? and doubt very much that he would go after someone unless he felt it necessary.  I consider Ron a good friend and understand and respect his opinions, but I tend to follow Andy?s beliefs as far as this topic goes.

As I have stated before the Icehouse set was part of the inspiration for the piecepack pyramids, but it was the geometric shape that inspired me, not the actual Icehouse games. When I was creating the pyramids I was looking to make a game piece that fit into the piecepack format of flexible, portable, and affordable. Since I was planning on doing this in a printable pdf file I needed a shape that was easy to cut out and make. I also like the pyramids because they can be stacked, which made them easy to store and flexible to create a game from. The reason I started the pyramids was because of a discussion on the list about the piecepack pawns not having a directional marking. Granted you could always use the printable pawns from the site or place a dab of paint or white out on the wood pawns.

The true spark of inspiration came when I was playing against Ron in a game he created called Snowman Meltdown (if you get a chance you should play it). I love the way Ron combined the two game systems together.  After the game and on my way home I started thinking that the four-sided Icehouse pyramid could be the answer.  The four sides work really well with the piecepack game board and the pyramids are really versatile.

However, there are some problems with the Icehouse set that don?t work with the piecepack. For one they are two big to fit on the grid side of the tiles and two they don?t have an obvious directional marking. Let?s face it the icehouse wasn?t made with the piecepack in mind, mainly because it didn?t exist at that time and piecepack wasn?t made with the icehouse set in mind.

So, I decided to make a set of pyramids that were made to work with the piecepack. Originally there were four sizes with the four suites but after many revisions and input from the piecepack group the current version 6.0 came to be.

Are there similarities in the icehouse and piecepack pyramids? Yes, both are a four sided, hollow, stackable pyramid that comes in several sizes.

Are there differences in the icehouse and piecepack pyramids? Yes again. Icehouse pieces are in different colors, don?t have a directional marking, a set consists of 5 with 3 sizes (and you usually need several sets to play a game) and most of them are see through. Piecepack pyramids are a single color, have a directional marking, come in four suits with 6 sizes, and you can easily hide the suit information if you want.

Here is the big question; if you are going to play an Icehouse game, which are you going to use, the icehouse set or the piecepack pyramids? I know my answer is icehouse because they are more suited to work with those games and if I play Sorcerer?s Chamber I will be using the piecepack pyramids.



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