Icehouse pieces are pyramid

Pyramid

A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...

-shaped gaming pieces invented by Andrew Looney

Andrew Looney

Andrew J. Looney , better known as Andy Looney, is an award-winning game designer and computer programmer.- Biography :...

 and John Cooper in 1987, originally for use in the game of Icehouse

Icehouse (game)

Icehouse is a turnless abstract strategy game invented by Andrew Looney and John Cooper. It was the first of many games played with Icehouse pieces....

.

Description

Each stash or set of Icehouse pieces consists of fifteen pyramids (variously called pieces, pyramids, or minions) of the same color in three different point (or pip

Pips

Pips are small but easily countable items. The term is used to describe the dots on dominoes, dice, denote suits, and is the name for the small seeds of some fruits. It could be used as a synonym for dot in most situations, for example morse code....

) values: five large 3-point pyramids (called queens in some games), five medium 2-point pyramids (sometimes called drones), and five small 1-point pyramids (or pawns). The commercially produced plastic sets are hollow and can be stacked and nested; this feature isn't used in the original Icehouse game, but is taken advantage of in some of the other Icehouse-based games listed below.

Icehouse pieces were, for many years, sold as tubes containing one stash of durable crystal-look plastic pieces in one of ten available colors (though cyan was only available through their promotional program or as part of the Ice Towers set). There was also a less expensive starter set called Origami Icehouse (later called Paper Icehouse), made of cardstock in four colors, which one punched out and folded into the pyramid shapes. In 2006, Looney Labs

Looney Labs

Looney Labs is a small game company based in College Park, Maryland, USA. It is named after its founders, Andrew Looney and Kristin Looney.- Card games :...

 began selling Icehouse pieces as Treehouse sets, which are multicolored sets of 15 pyramids: five colors, each color having one each of the three sizes. Looney Labs has also sold boxed sets for Zendo

Zendo (game)

Zendo is a game of inductive logic designed by Kory Heath in which one player creates a rule for structures to follow, and the other players try to discover it by building and studying various koans which follow or break the rule...

 and IceTowers

IceTowers

IceTowers is a turnless strategy game designed by Andrew Looney and published by Looney Labs. The game is played with a set of Icehouse pieces, with each player assigned a specific color.-Rules:...

; the latter contained cyan pieces. The Icehouse website also has instructions for making your own pieces. Looney Labs has licenced Crystal Caste LLC to make regulation-sized Icehouse pieces out of semiprecious stone

Gemstone

A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...

http://www.crystalcaste.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CC&Category_Code=PY.

In 2001, Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set won the Origins Award

Origins Award

The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...

 for Best Abstract Board Game of 2000. In 2004, the Zendo boxed set won Best Abstract Board Game of 2003. In 2006, Treehouse won the Origins Award for Best Board Game of 2006.

Games

Icehouse pieces can be used to play many different abstract strategy game

Strategy game

A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome...

s. Most games need at least two colors, and some require other readily-available equipment such as glass stones or a checkerboard

Checkerboard

A checkerboard or chequerboard is a board of chequered pattern on which English draughts is played. It is an 8×8 board and the 64 squares are of alternating dark and light color, often red and black....

. Rules for these games can be found on the Icehouse website. Some are also available in Playing with Pyramids, published by Looney Labs.