I don't think the Looney's stopped offering mono stashes online because of competition with stores, it just makes more business sense not to carry what is effectively a whole other product line. I acquired all my pyramids via the original Martian Chess set and later monochrome stash buying. I was obsessive and willing to buy any new color that came out no matter what. However I would not that when I described it as a great gaming investment to people, they would gawk at the $60 + price tag, especially when it "wasn't even a whole game". The Treehouse system for all it's "inconvenience" gives people significant play options at every purchase tier along the way. Spend $10 and you can play a few games, spend $10 more and you can play more, once you get to $30 in, you've got a whole mess of options open for you. Personally I was happy to buy monochrome stashes, but from a business standpoint it makes complete sense to stick solely with Treehouse. (IMHO, as someone who has worked in a gamestore and unabashedly sold lots of pyramids in both formats) On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 11:55 AM, David L. Willson <DLWillson@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Technically, one can get two mono-stashes for $24, Pink Treehouse and the grey mono-stash. > > I agree that packaging Icehouse pieces ~exclusively~ in Treehouse sets creates purchasing logistics problems, but I think the problem affects new players, old players, and pyramid hackers. > > I suppose that the reason LL does this is to minimize warehousing, inventory, stock challenges for their retailers and warehouse. I further suppose that they don't offer bulk and mono-stashes from their web-site, because they don't want to compete with local game and hobby stores. I agree with LL that we need to support local game shops that support local play, but I have an idea that might get us "the best of both worlds". > > My suggestion would be that they offer all sorts of products on their website (bulk, mono, empty tubes, etc.), and allow the buyer to direct a "commission" to their favorite LL-registered local game and hobby store. Then the local store gets paid, LL gets paid, and we get the pyramids we want without the pyramids we don't want. > > This will become seriously relevant to me when I get my storage box project done, my Icehouse table project done, figure out how to cast super-heavy drones, pawns, and mites, and start hacking out my personalized Icehouse stash for the first Denver Icehouse Tournament, which I will announce, run, coordinate, and win. :-) > > On an unrelated note, I think solid brass pyramids would rock. Has anyone seen or done that? If I had such a set, people might say of me, "He's got pyramids of solid brass!" or "I find his play quite brazen." > > On another unrelated note, Eeyore, if you're reading this thread, and you've gotten this far in, do you have uncompressed versions of any of the tournament videos you posted to YouTube, perhaps with strategic notes voiced over? I have tried to watch the YouTube's, but they're too blurry, and my new-ness to the game prevents me from understanding what might be going on in the players' minds when nothing's going on on the playing surface. And, what are the dimensions of the table you played on? > _______________________________________________ > Icehouse mailing list > Icehouse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > http://lists.looneylabs.com/mailman/listinfo/icehouse > -- Sam Zitin Director of Information Management Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity Office:317-876-1913 Cell: 317-710-0925