Thrift Treasure: Fire and Ice Game
![Fire and Ice is only 20 years old but feels like one that should have been published much earlier. It's a unique take on 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe! - SahmReviews.com](http://www.sahmreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Fire-and-Ice-Hero.jpg)
Last week’s Thrift Treasure, Skyline, wasn’t the only game we grabbed at the Geekway to the West flea market. Far from it. Truthfully, if I decide to give overviews on all the games I purchased, you’ll be reading about them for the next year. For now, I’m just going to focus on the ones I was most excited to find and not the ones I bought just because they were cheap.
It bears repeating that I prefer abstract games over every other type. There’s just something about perfect-information games I find appealing. In fact, watch for my own upcoming game, boop., later this year! Until then, I’ll be enjoying some of the new ones I found in St. Louis. The first being Fire and Ice by PIN International.
![Fire and Ice is only 20 years old but feels like one that should have been published much earlier. It's a unique take on 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe! - SahmReviews.com](http://www.sahmreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Fire-and-Ice-Box.jpg)
This all-wooden game could not be made today without it retailing for at least $50, if not more. The $10 sticker price was certainly worth it and the decent 6.7 rating on BGG convinced me to take it home. It’s a two-player game best described as a 3-D version of tic-tac-toe.
![Fire and Ice is only 20 years old but feels like one that should have been published much earlier. It's a unique take on 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe! - SahmReviews.com](http://www.sahmreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Fire-and-Ice-Moving.jpg)
The object of Fire and Ice is to get three in a row on three connected islands. Because the shapes are triangular, the rules for three in a row are slightly different than what you might expect. Drawn lines help you remember that three can be in any straight line OR in a circular pattern connecting the middle space of all three sides of the triangle. This also applies to the overall requirement of three islands in a row – they must adhere to this rule as well.
![Fire and Ice is only 20 years old but feels like one that should have been published much earlier. It's a unique take on 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe! - SahmReviews.com](http://www.sahmreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Fire-and-Ice-Adding.jpg)
The first player will place one of their pieces in the center space of the board and then move it. A movement consists of either moving to any open space on the same island or to the exact same unoccupied space on a different island. After a piece has been moved, an opponent’s pawn is put in the hole the previous one moved away from.
![Fire and Ice is only 20 years old but feels like one that should have been published much earlier. It's a unique take on 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe! - SahmReviews.com](http://www.sahmreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Fire-and-Ice-Island.jpg)
As the game progresses, you’ll have an increasing number of pieces on the board, thus more options. Capturing an island with three in a row may not be permanent, as you might need one of those pieces to block your opponent or shift strategies when they take an island you need.
![Fire and Ice is only 20 years old but feels like one that should have been published much earlier. It's a unique take on 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe! - SahmReviews.com](http://www.sahmreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Fire-and-Ice-Win.jpg)
Expect a full game of Fire and Ice to last around thirty minutes. It’s a unique twist on the N-in-a-row genre and certainly worth grabbing if you find a complete copy for under $10. At the moment there are a couple examples on eBay, but for much more.
What game do you own that would be too expensive to manufacture today?