Looney Labs Icehouse Mailing list Archive

[Buddha Buck <blaisepascal@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 1:09 PM, Bryan Stout <stoutwb@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

This is a thread that I just started at the LLFanClub site: http://looneylabs.ning.com/forum/topics/a-proposal-the-pyramid-game

This is a discussion I would like to reach its broadest audience, so I am copying the text here, for those of you who aren't following the Fan Club site:

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Last year we started the ICE Awards for the best fan-designed games of the year.  This year, the 20th anniversary of Icehouse, in that same spirit I propose that the pyramid game fan community start a Pyramid Game Hall of Fame, to honor the best games of this product's history. The Hall of Fame would start with a certain number of games this year, and more could be added each succeeding year.

This proposal raises several questions that deserve discussion:

1. Should it be done? 

I'm assuming the answer is yes, of course.

2. What should the criteria of admittance be?

The general principles would include quality, longevity, originality.  To start off, I propose:

- Both professional and amateur games are eligible.

- The game must have been invented at least 10 years ago.

- The game must still have a substantial devoted following. 

According the BGG list of Pyramid Games, the games invented in or before 2001 include: Icehouse, Trice, Martian Chess, Igloo, Zarcana, DNA, Gridlock, Zendo, Pikemen, Think Ice, IceTowers, RGB, Martian Frisby, Extinction, Ice Solo, Volcano, Martian Backgammon, Ice 3, Turtler, Kotra, Martian Life, RAMBots, Efni, Dragon's Hoard, Crystal Formation, Homeworlds, Martian Mud Wrestling, The Martian Gathering, E, Breakthrough, Battle Zone, Martianopoly, Invaders of Mars, and Gnostica.  Zagami should also be in there I think, and probably others. 

I Am Not A Number was released in August 2001. 

10 years is a long time for games.  While that may be intentional, to "weed out the cult of the new", I think it's probably too long.  5 years would probably be sufficient for such weeding.

4. How would the judging work?

Two major options include having a small panel of judges, and open judging.  The former is potentially subject to inbreeding, the latter to the cult of the new.  But if the latter should be weeded out by a 10-year eligibility requirement.  It might work well enough if we allow anyone to nominate games and to vote on them, sending out a ballot of all nominees for people to vote yes/no on: any game that gets an 80% vote, say, makes it in.  Campaigning for certain games would be fine with me: I would enjoy hearing why people enjoy certain games.

Is there anything that would prevent me from, say, repeatedly nominating I Am Not A Number each year?  

I would suggest something like: It takes N (where N might be 1) nominations to get on the ballot; 80% approval to be eligible to be admitted to the HoF, and 20% approval to remain on the ballot w/o renomination, 5% approval to be eligible for renomination.  Of the games eligible in a given year, only the top K will be admitted.  That way, really atrocious games (like IANAN) either never get nominated or are quickly eliminated, good games can take a while to build up a following, and great games can be recognized immediately.

5. When would it happen?

It could happen in conjunction with the ICE Awards: people either emailing their ballots in, or doing it by hand at the Big Experiment.  The awards would happen in the same ceremony as well. 

Your comments and suggestions are encouraged!

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