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Lowell Kempf
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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Older game systems, such as a deck of cards or a set of dominos, are pure gold. Through the various forms of game evolution, they have been refined and offer some amazing gaming. Though there may be people in the hobby who scorn them, they are going nowhere and are here to stay. Perhaps the mutant cockroaches that take over the world after the bomb will play Go.
More modern game system tend to be a bit more awkward. It’s not like they are reinventing the wheel. It’s a little more like they are trying to reinvent the internal combustion engine starting by reinventing the wheel. The standard deck of cards wasn’t the creation of one person but something that developed over generations and it’s kind of hard for one person to recreate that process.
For me, the closest modern game system to make at least the first step in realizing its potential is the Icehouse or Looney Pyramid System. Mind you, that is a big statement to make and it could be all in my head. I am sure that other people can make similar arguments for other modern game systems.
On the face of it, the pyramid system has a very strange origin. According the legend, it got started as a description in a short story by Andrew Looney. Rules were developed to match the description of the game he wrote about. After that, people twigged to the idea that they could play other games with the little pyramids.
So, the pyramid system developed in a very quirky and organic way. It didn’t start off to be a game system. It just sort of ended up becoming one.
Why do I think that the pyramid system works so well? The simple answer is that I keep on having fun with it. I keep finding new games to play and I go back to the games that I enjoy. I think that it works because I keep using it.
I think there are a number of factors to contribute to this.
One of the key pieces is that the pyramid system is simultaneously supported by a professional company with professional designers and also has a grassroots network of people who are developing and play testing their own games. It’s got access to both worlds. Thanks to the internet, the pyramid system is a great big stone soup of ideas bubbling away.
Yes, there are plenty of games that are half-baked or even just outright broken and terrible. However, people keep on throwing pyramid games against the wall and some of them do stick. (Does that analogy even make any sense?)
Another key element, and it’s one that really only occurred to me once I decided to ruminate on game systems, is that the pyramid system cheats. It is not a complete system in and of itself. You don’t have dozens of games that only use the little pyramids. They also use boards and dice and go stones and tarot cards and playing cards and piece pack and CDs and even the packaging that the pyramids used to come in.
In short, the pyramids are just a part of the system. People developing games with them will reach out and grab whatever they need. By the general definition of a gaming system (a set of stuff that you can use in a bunch of different ways), that breaks the rules. The pyramid system is not self-sufficient.
But, here’s the thing. It works. By breaking down that unspoken wall (which may not even really exist), the pyramid system opens itself up to endless experimentation and unlimited possibilities.
The last piece of the puzzle, at least for me, is actually having a game that is a legitimate hit. Having an environment that allows people to play around with the system and having the system open enough that you can do anything you want to with it gives it a lot of potential. However, more important than those things is actually have a game that is good enough that people want to play it and will keep on playing it.
At least for me, the pyramid system has at least two of those games: Volcano and Zendo. Oh, it has other games that I like. However, those two games are ones that I keep going back to and those two games are ones that, when I teach them to people, they like them enough that they want to play them again. I had one friend who bought a Volcano board and all the pyramids needed to play just so he could play that game alone.
Curiously enough, we are looking at two games that are nothing alike. (For that matter, they were designed by two different people, neither of them Andrew Looney, the guy who came up with the little pyramids in the first place.) Volcano is an abstract strategy game that takes advantage of the special nature of the pyramids. Zendo is a deductive game that you could theoretically play with anything. You don’t even need a playing surface. What they have in common is they are both good games, ones that I could make an evening of playing.
I don’t know if the mutant cockroaches will be playing games with pyramids. I do know that the pyramid system works for me and that I’m going to keep on playing with it.
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