Martian Bowling
An Icehouse game designed by Joshua Kronengold and Erik Hanson

WHAT YOU NEED

• Additional equipment: none
• Number of players: 2-6 (best with 3-4) (5-6 players have maximum chaos, but tend to have a much higher early player advantage, as the starting players can often get very high scores, leaving less for other players)
• Playing time: 5-10 minutes

INTRODUCTION

Many Martian games involve carefully moving and placing minions with precision and grace, or complex strategies over multiple turns, as your position grows and (ideally) improves over time. This isn't one of those; Martian Bowling was invented thousands of years ago, after an Icehouse (or an Icetowers) game, when a frustrated losing player elected to throw a piece at opposing pieces. Play is deliberate, measured, chaotic, and usually not too dangerous.

OVERVIEW

Martian Bowling is a turn-based game, where players take turns throwing their pieces at upright pieces, getting points for any pieces they knock down, or knock out of the playing area. The game ends when one player no longer has pieces in the playing area.

SETUP

As per IceTowers: Randomly scatter a set of Icehouse pieces across the tabletop, then stand them all upright where they lie. Assign a color to each player.

PLAY OPTIONS

Only one: pick up a piece of yours that is still in play, and attack with it, by throwing at pieces within the play area. Then, capture any pieces that are outside the play area or non-upright (wierd or flat).

RESTRICTIONS

• Keep Your Distance: All attacks must be made from outside the playing area; your body cannot enter it, though the piece you throw will.
• No Sweeping: You must let go of your attacker before it hits any pieces; you cannot just sweep along the edge of the play area.
• No Fouls: Players should be penalized (by automatically losing the game) if they foul, either by interfering with someone's swing, or by damaging another player with a wild swing -- this game involves throwing around sharp pieces of plastic, but try not to hurt anyone.
• No Blocking: Players should not prevent pieces from leaving the playing area, unless they seem likely to cause a danger or to get lost. Any piece which is prevented from leaving the playing area is captured by the attacker.

ENDING THE GAME

The game ends if at the end of a turn, any player has no minions in play.

SCORING

Large pieces are worth 3 points, Medium pieces are worth 2 points; Small pieces are worth 1 point. Add the value of any opposing pieces you capture to your score (scoring can be done at the end of the game, since captured pieces are not recyclced); then, subtract the number of your own pieces you captured.

STRATEGY

While you usually lose points for the pieces you attack with, it's often better to use a medium or large attacker than a small attacker, since you will generally knock over more pieces that way. Hit groups of pieces as much as possible, but try to avoid groups that contain your own pieces; remember, you lose points for any of your own pieces you knock over.

VARIATIONS

• Alternative setups: For a less chaotic game, try arranging the pieces in groups, or even in groups of towers (if playing with towers, pieces can only be taken off the tops of towers, and this can provide a nice wind-down to a game of IceTowers)
• Flicking: Flicking is a possible alternative play, though you have to be careful not to use pieces you're likely to mind losing.
• Clumping>: To deal with the first player advantage, instead of letting each player play against the full field, allow each player to chose a number (3x the number of players) of pieces (all of differing size and color if possible, player's choice if not) to clump from the stash, and bowl at that, with pieces that remain standing being returned to the global stash.

  NOTES
  
  Yes, this has been playtested.