Looney Labs Icehouse Mailing list Archive

RE: [Icehouse] Today's lightbulb! (was: Monochrone Stashes)

  • FromDavid Artman <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • DateThu, 02 Aug 2007 10:34:09 -0700
> From: "Elliott C. Evans" <eeyore@xxxxxxxx>
> 
> Today I realized that if you take a Treehouse set and decorate all
> 15 pieces with the same motif (for instance, gold racing stripes)
> then even though the set is still multicolored, it can function as
> a monochrome stash for many games.
> 
> This also works the other way around, of course. Taking a stash
> and painting the 15 pieces with 5 different motifs (for instance:
> red stars, blue stripes, green swirls, yellow dots, and white
> triangles) enables an old monochrome stash to function as a
> Treehouse set for many games.

A couple of points to consider, though:
* Stacking - Whatever you do to mark pieces should be visible in a tree
stack (i.e. the bases are somehow marked) and, ideally, even in a nest
stack (i.e. the markings don't perfectly overlap; only effective with
transparent pyramids, obviously).
* Opaques - A TH set will never fully replicate an IH mono stash because
of the presence of an opaque stack. This issue, in fact, is what makes
it tough to play Volcano easily/properly with a 5-set plus Caps; one
really needs a 10-set to do Volcano "right."

Additional ideas:
* Holes - Much like your skeleton pyramids, I think a unique pattern of
holes would do a great job of both "monochromizing" a TH set but also
obviate the above issues with stacking and opaques (and stacking
opaques!). The easiest would be a pattern of circular (i.e. drilled)
holes, but someone handy with a Dremel could do any number of shapes
(i.e. squares, triangles, smiley faces).
* Ziggurats - Cut off the points of your TH set in a particular way that
leaves a hole no smaller than the base of a small pyramid (duh--that
would mean your small couldn't be cut at all!). They will still stack
and nest like normal, and they will be distinguishable at a glance when
compared to an un-Zigguratted TH set. Obviously, this kills their
utility in games with precision pointing or where the piece height is
critical (e.g. as a measurement).

Cool idea! You're pretty smart, you know that?
David


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