Ice Lake Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object
• Contents
• Winning
• Setting Up
• How to Play
  • The Planning Phase
  • The Movement Phase
• The Perils of The Ice
• Reset!
• Examples of Movement
• Tips

Object

Be the last one standing on the ice.

Contents

Gameboard, 4 Dry Erase Pens, 4 Ice Skates, 4 Plan Cards

Winning

You win the game when you are the last one skating on the lake. This can occur at any point after every player has moved once.

Setting Up

Place one ice skate for each player on the board. The ice skates should be placed on the same color ice skate picture, facing the same direction as the picture (towards one of the hexagon's flat edges). Select who is going to move first during the first Movement Phase.

How to Play

Ice Lake is played in two phases. First, players write plans indicating where their skaters will move. This is called the Planning Phase. Next, players take turns moving their skaters according to their written plans (the Movement Phase). These two phases are called a round. Play continues until only one skater remains on the ice (usually involving many rounds).

The Planning Phase

During the planning phase, write down a list of moves for your skater to make. Represent each move with a letter ("L" for Left, "R" for Right, or "S" for Straight). Keep your plan hidden until the Movement Phase.

When you're done, your plan will be a list of letters (like "SSLSRR"). There is no upper limit to how many moves you can plan, but every plan must have at least one letter (no standing still). Each move causes the skater to move a single space. "S" causes the skater to move straight forward. "L" moves the skater forward and to the left. "R" moves the skater forward and to the right. Turning ("R", or "L") also causes your skater to change direction. See Examples of Movement.

The Movement Phase

The player who moved last the previous round moves first, and play continues clockwise around the board until all the plans are completed.

When it's your turn to move, look at the plan you created in the Planning Phase and move one space in the direction indicated by your plan. When you move:

1. Move your skater to the hexagon indicated by the letter written in your plan. Remember to keep your skater facing the direction skated. Turning left or right changes the direction the skate faces.

2. Using a dry erase pen, draw a line connecting the centers of the spaces you just moved between. This line represents the crack in the ice left by your skates.

3. Cross out that letter on your plan. On your next move, move according to the next letter written in your plan.

After you have moved one space, it's the next player's turn to move a single space. When it's your turn again, move according to the next letter you wrote down in the Planning Phase. Play continues in this manner until every player has either completed the written plan or been forced to stop moving. If it's your turn and you don't have any letters left in your plan, your skater doesn't move, and play continues to the next player. Once no one has any more moves to make, the Movement Phase is over, and the Planning Phase for the next round begins. There is no limit to the number of rounds that can be played.

The Perils of The Ice

Before getting into more details, it's important to know what can happen to your skater on this thin ice. There are three ways that you can be forced off the ice:

1. If you skate off the edge of the lake, you are out of the game.

2. If, at any point, you are completely surrounded by cracks, you are on dangerously unstable ice. Take your skate off the board - you are out of the game. It does not matter how many hexagons are surrounded by cracks, if there is no line of uncracked ice between you and the shore, you are out of the game.

3. If you do not move at least one space during a Movement Phase, you're out of the game.

There are two ways that your skater can be forced to stop:

1. You cannot collide with another skater. If a move would cause you to skate through another skater, don't make the move. This isn't hockey.

2. You cannot skate along a crack in the ice. You can skate across a crack, but not along a crack. If you start to skate a line that has already been skated, your skater simply stops.

When your skater is forced to stop, erase the rest of your plan - your Movement Phase is over for the round. Immediately rotate your skate to face a direction that can be skated (remember that it must face the edge of a hexagon). If no direction can be skated, you are out of the game.

Reset!

It is possible for a skater to become completely separated from the others. If, at the start of a Planning Phase, your skater has no possible way to reach another skater (because of cracked ice), move your skater to a shore edge of the largest patch of ice containing another skater. If multiple skaters are in this situation, move them all to the edge of the largest patch of ice containing at least one skater. The skater already on that patch does not get moved.

Examples of Movement

Example 1: How skaters move and Example 2: Avoiding the Cracks are illustrated on the printed sheet.

For example, if the skater writes "LS" for orders, then she'll move left (into space C) and then straight (into space G). However, if the skater writes "SS", he'll move straight (into space B), and then try to move straight again. Since a skater can't skate along a crack in the ice, and there's a crack running from B to E, the skater would stop in space B.

In Example 2, you can see a skater trying to get past a line of cracked ice. The skater could skate across the crack, but could not skate along it.

Where would the skater be if the instructions read "LR"? "Left" moves the skater to space C, facing space G. Turning right then puts the skater in space F, facing the bottom of the board.

Tips

Here are some tips that will be especially useful for first time players:

• Remember that directions are given from the skater's perspective. Each skater has a right and a left. This can get confusing. Be careful!
• The more orders you write during the planning phase, the more your skater will move during the movement phase. This can let you take control.
• If you write the most orders, you'll be the first to move the next round.
• The skaters always face a flat edge of a hexagon, never a corner.
• Think ahead! What are the other skaters going to do? Where are they going? If you can guess the answers to these questions, you will win.