Thrift Treasure: Fire and Ice Game
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
