Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

1
CommentGo Back

Download

Gridlock

Setup

Gridlock is an abstract strategy game for 4 players. To play, youwill need a set of Icehouse pyramids, a chessboard, and somesort of token that can be passed around the table and placed in front of eachplayer. We use a little toy model of the van that those meddling kids drovearound in on the Scooby Doo show; for this reason, this token will be referred toin these rules as the Mystery Machine.To play a standard game, give each player a full set of Icehouse pyramids of asingle color. If you wish, you can also play a short game, using only 9 pieces, 3of each size, for each player.Place one small piece of each color in a hat. Draw one piece out a random. Thisis the color that will go first. Then draw out a second piece. The second pieceindicates the starting position of the Mystery Machine. Place the MysteryMachine in front of the appropriate player.

The Placement Phase

The game has two phases, the Placement Phase and the Drop Phase. Duringthe first phase, players take turns placing a piece of their choice somewhere onthe chessboard. The pyramids are placed in the upright position. Playerscontinue placing pyramids on the chessboard until all players have used up all of their pieces.

The Drop Phase

During the Drop Phase, each player will choose a piece of their color that isstill standing up and "drop" it - that is,knock it over so that it's pointing awayfrom the player. This brings us to a keyconcept: After a piece has beendropped, its color is no longer significant - what matters then is thedirection it is pointing. A piece that ispointing away from you is your piece -that is, you will be the one who getspoints for it at the end of the game,provided it is still pointing away fromyou at that time.When a piece is dropped, it can "turn"one or more other pieces - that is,change the direction of other pieces

along the path in which it is pointing, so that those pieces are also pointing awayfrom the player who dropped the piece. The number of pieces a piece can turn isdependent upon its size; a large pyramid can turn three other pieces, a mediumtwo, and a small piece only one.On your turn, you choose a piece to drop, and then you turn the correct number of pieces in front of the piece you just dropped, so that they are all pointing awayfrom you.However: only pieces that are lying down are turned. Pieces that are standingupright are left standing upright. This means that in some cases, particularly earlyin the game, you won't get to turn any pieces even if you drop a large piece.

The Mystery Machine

The Mystery Machine allows you to skip your turn. Whenever your turn comesup, if you have the Mystery Machine in front of you, you can choose to pass italong to the next player instead of placing or dropping a piece. Of course, youcannot use the Mystery Machine to skip your turn if you were just handed it;however, you can choose to take a turn and hold onto the Mystery Machine for the next round if you wish.

Scoring

The object of the game is not merely to end up with the most pieces pointing inyour direction, but also to have as many pieces as possible lined up in a singlecolumn as possible. A single piece pointing in your direction is worth 1 point, butif you have 4 pieces on adjacent square that are all pointing away from you, youget 8 points.When counting up the score, thebest way to avoid confusion is to goaround the table and for each player,pick up the pieces they get points for and set them in front of the player,clustered in little groups according tothe value of each "chain", where achain is a group of adjacent piecespointing in a single direction.

Chain LengthPoint Value

112234485166327648128

Gridlock for 2 or 3 players

Gridlock is optimal with 4 players, so it won't be quite as cool with fewer players,though it can be done.With 2 players, each player will control 2 colors. Place the chessboard at anangle, so that pieces pointing in 2 directions will both, in a sense, be pointingaway from a single player. Each player then essentially plays for both colors as if