[Icehouse] RE: Tournament Icehouse Concepts for Cons?

[David Artman]

Subhan - Thanks for the BLAM! suggestion; I need to add that to my repetoire 
for demoing in general. It's cool for a tourney, too--but I'd have to play 
some to be sure it doesn't run too long (or run timed rounds).

RE Zendo as a Tournament game - First, I would Master all games 
simultaneously, and I (will) have enough stashes to run 3 games at once 
(with 4 colors per game) or 4 at once (with 4 colors per game). I would use 
rules that are considered of the same "rank" according to the page at Play 
Again Games:
http://wiki.playagaingames.com/tiki-index.php?page=Some+Zendo+Rules

Thus, I think that I can host up to 4 players per game per round; that makes 
for 16 players per round max, which fits nicely in a tournament bracket.

RE IceTowers - Yes, it is good for demoing the variety of LL games. But I'd 
prefer to avoid a real-time game in a tourney with prize(s). Yes, even a $9 
Grand Prize can make folks do dodgy things or whime about fairness. Also, 
given that it requires a stash per person and only ends when it reaches a 
null move state (or when time runs out, yes), it has other issues, in my 
personal opinion. Finally, I imagine that there are accessability issues 
with any real-time game that could prove a barrier to entry, for differently-
abled persons.

Treehouse is, in my opinion, too random to warrant a tournament. Also, it's 
VERY short to play (in my experience), so it might make for a too-fast 
tournament conclusion (sure, I could pad it; but why, when there's other games 
that don't need padding?). Finally, I just find it too easy--something about 
my brain, I guess--and thus I fear others would too. Or, worse, one or two 
others would, and they would totally dominate the rest of the tourney.

Not to be sniping every suggestion, but more to guide additional thought on 
the subject.

I really want to be able to use something I would be demoing on Saturday anyway. 
Remember (those of you on the Rabbits list) that I am going to *demo* Saturday 
and run a tourney Sunday at StellarCon. So I need to stick with a game that I 
can stand to demo repeatedly and that will be easy to learn and that will excite 
players to come back the next day. I fear games without much strategic depth or 
that take a long time to "grok" or that use too many extra bits (which might 
give the impression that pyramids are not "complete games" in and of themselves).

Making more sense? Got any other ideas from my feedback?
Thanks, all!
David