[Icehouse] Tournament Icehouse Concepts for Cons?

[Jacob Davenport]

Zendo tournaments are tricky, and we've done several.  We do 
double-elimination with three player games: 
wiki.playagaingames.com/tiki-index.php?page=Tournament+Zendo  We are 
considering doing Speed Zendo instead in tournaments because it's so fun 
and goes faster.  YMMV.

Kristin Looney likes to demo Zendo, and so do I.  The rules are short, 
and when you start with simple rules there are quick iterative rewards: 
wiki.playagaingames.com/tiki-index.php?page=Demoing+Zendo

I'm partial to demoing Pikemen, myself.  Easy rules, interesting 
strategies and situations.  Two player is best, especially for 
tournaments.  Single-elimination.

I think that IceTowers is also great for demoing because it has few 
rules and is completely different from Zendo and Pikemen.  I don't find 
the problems you mention with IceTowers, because there is actually an 
incentive to play a little slower, but not too slow.  It's a tricky 
balance, and I think Andy did a good job of creating a real-time game 
that does not reward the fast nor does in encourage you to wait forever.

After people play all three of those games, they see how versatile the 
pieces are.

-Jacob