Looney Labs Icehouse Mailing list Archive

Re: [Icehouse] Best of 2009 -- last push to get the finalists

  • From"Jeff Wolfe" <jwolfe@xxxxxxxx>
  • DateThu, 17 Jun 2010 14:22:04 -0400
I feel strongly that there should be exactly three finalists.  The current
discussions seem to be focused on five games.  Here is my take.

Infiltrate/Stack Control: I agree that only one of these should be a
finalist since they're by the same designer.  I'll give a slight edge to
Stack Control, which supports more than 2 players and has a more definite
game ending.

Crosswalk: A lighter game with a random element.  Considered as a
meta-issue, that's a point in its favor.  But it would be in my Top 3
anyway.

Quicksand: My biggest problem with this one is that nowhere in the rules
does it explicitly state that jumping a piece captures it.  That is a
fundamental element of the game, and it's only implied in the discussions on
captured pieces.  And, I guess, implied by it being a Checkers term.  Other
than that, I'm fine with the game.  Any way somebody can sneak that small
change in there before the rules are printed up for Origins (assuming it's a
finalist)?

Dectana: I don't like this as a finalist for two reasons.  One, it's
inaccessible due to the Decktet requirement.  Two, it's not really original,
being another implementation of the  Zarcana/Gnostica/Zark City concept.

So, here's proposed list of finalists (in alphabetical order):

Crosswalk
Quicksand
Stack Control

- Jeff