An Introduction by Dr Cool Well, now, this is strange. Five years ago, after writing Hypothermia 13, I had two predictions: I would never have to write another Meltdown article; and I would never have to sort Icehouse pieces again. I was trying to put a personal upbeat spin on an unhappy situation. Icehouse had frozen in its tracks; there wasn’t enough money to keep up production. Yet, here I am, frantically writing an article for a reincarnated newsletter. And tomorrow, for the umpty- umpth time, I’m traipsing over to Looney Labs to help sort and stock boxes of Icehouse pieces. Beautiful pieces! Plastic! Real, honest to gosh, injection-molded, factory-select, colorful, transparent, nigh- unbreakable and oh-so-stackable Icehouse pieces! I still pick up a bunch every now and then, and just… marvel at how unlikely, how magical this is, holding real game pieces from Mars, knowing that people are opening our boxes and learning our games. Can you tell how happy I am? So, anywise, let’s begin where we left off. November 1996 -- Hypo number 13 had a nostalgic intro from me, a farewell letter from Andrew Looney, a recounting of the 8th Tournament, and something important -- something that didn’t seem particularly special at the time, outside of its own existence. It was a rules set for a new game by Dan Russett, called DNA. Now, admittedly, I haven’t played DNA more than, oh, twice. But the reason DNA is important to me now is because I see it metaphorically linked to its eponymous (and, until fairly recently in earth history, unnoticed) real counterpart. Focus (by Keith Baker) and DNA were the first Icehouse games to be invented outside of Icehouse Games Inc. They were precursors to a long list of such games, a long growing list. To date, there are more than 20 playable Icehouse games, with many more on the way. And the beauty I find in all this emergent construction (via little pyramids as building blocks of creativity) and environmental selection (via the expanding universe of active Icehouse gamers) is that I don’t see an end to it. The more people who pick up Icehouse sets, the greater the diversity and growth of Icehouse games. It worked for playing cards. Once upon a time someone made a game with painted cardboard pieces. Eventually there were lots of games using painted cardboard. I see it working for little pointy pyramids, too. So, welcome to the first issue of Hypothermia that seriously switches from focusing on the game of Icehouse to discussing new Icehouse games. The Martians have invaded. Enjoy! -- dr cool OFFICIAL ICEHOUSE RULES CHANGES It's been a long time since the last issue of Hypothermia, and in that time, there have been a couple of official changes to the rules of the original game. In 1998, we announced on our website that the penalty for a false icehouse call was changed from giving away an attack piece from the table to giving away a piece from your stash. More recently, as in now, we are also finally adopting the Timer rule as an official rule for all games. We've been using this as a standard rule in tournaments since 1991 and it's the most effective way we know of to solve the famous Stagnation Problem, so it really should be part of the basic ruleset. So, the following new section is being added to the rules, near the end, after the section on Crashes: The Timer While seemingly just a board game, Icehouse is also rather like a sport. The physical elements of the game (a steady hand, good coordination, etc) reward more skillful and adept players, and just as sports are often bounded by a clock, so too is Icehouse. To prevent a slow player from attempting to wait until all others have played before getting involved, the game will have a definite (though unknowable) ending point, after which unplayed pieces will be worthless. Before starting, all players must agree upon when the game shall end. The timer can be an actual timer, set to ring after a certain length of time (10 minutes is the standard used in tournaments). The timer can also be the next occurrence of an arbitrary event, such as the arrival of a waitress, train, or phone call. Whatever method of marking the time is used, the clock must be invisible to the players. When the timer goes off, immediately stop the game. Recall to the stash pads any pieces that were being played when the timer sounded. Any pyramids left on stash pads don't count towards your score. A Kory Heath Game Does a dog have Buddha-nature? This is the most serious question of all. If you answer yes or no You lose your own Buddha-nature. - Ancient Zen Koan What You Need · A standard four-color set of Icehouse pieces. (Other colors may be added or substituted.) · A number of glass stones or markers of three different colors – preferably black, white, and some other color. (Pennies, dimes, and quarters will do in a pinch, but glass stones are more esthetically pleasing, and can be obtained cheaply at any craft or pet store.) The black and white stones are called "answering stones" (or "marking stones"), and the stones of the third color are called "guessing stones". You shouldn't need more than about 20 of each type. · Any flat playing surface. · One person to be the Master, and two to four other people to be the students (i.e. the players). It's possible to play Zendo with more than four students, but with that many people it's probably better to split the group into multiple games. Setup As a group, select one person to be the Master for the current game. Give each student a pair of answering stones (a black one and a white one), and put all of the other stones in front of the Master. Put all of the Icehouse pieces off to one side of the playing field, to form the "global stash"; these pieces should be within reach of all of the players. Koans Over the course of the game, whether you are the Master or a student, you will be setting up different configurations of one or more Icehouse pieces on the table. Each configuration is referred to as a "koan" (pronounced "KO-ahn"). You may arrange a koan’s pieces in whatever way you wish, as long as they do not touch another koan's pieces, or any other foreign objects (including marking stones). It is perfectly legal to lean a koan's pieces against each other, or to balance them precariously on top of each other, and so on. The Master will be allowed to move any existing koan from one location on the table to another (making certain that the moved koan is as identical as possible to the way it was before), in order to help distinguish koans from each other, or to clear space for more of them. The Master may disallow a koan from being built if there's not enough space for it. Rules for the Master When you are selected to be the Master, your first task is to come up with a secret rule that will be used during this game of Zendo. According to your rule, some koans will "have the Buddha-nature", and others will not. An example of a simple rule is "a koan has the Buddha-nature if (and only if) it contains one or more green pieces". An example of a difficult rule would be "a koan has the Buddha-nature if and only if it contains an odd number of pieces pointing at other pieces". You are also allowed to create "negative" rules: "a koan does not have the Buddha-nature if it contains exactly three pieces touching the table (otherwise it does)." Over the course of the game, you will be marking koans with black or white stones to indicate whether or not they have the Buddha-nature according to your rule. A white stone indicates that a koan has the Buddha- nature, and a black stone indicates that it doesn't. Your rule must provide an answer for any koan that a student could possibly build, and your rule should always mark two identical koans identically. At the end of these rules-of-play, you'll find notes about certain kinds of Master’s Rules that are not allowed. For the students, the object of the game is to try to figure out what your secret rule is. As the Master, your job is to act as facilitator; you are not actually a player, and you are not in competition with any of the players. After you've come up with your rule, start the game off by building two koans in the middle of the playing field – one that has the Buddha-nature according to your rule, and one that does not. Mark the koans with the appropriate stones, and select one of the students to take the first turn. Rules for the Students On your turn as a student, start by creating a new koan using one or more pieces from the global stash. If the pieces you'd like to use are not available, you may indicate one or more specific koans and ask the other students to allow you to break them down. The group may in turn ask you which pieces you’re looking for, and may suggest alternate koans to break down. You may only break down a koan if all of the other students agree to allow that koan to be broken down. If unanimous agreement cannot be reached, the Master must decide which (if any) koans to break down, taking into account (as much as possible) the input of all of the students. Calling "Master" After you create your new koan, you must call either "Master" or "Mondo". If you call "Master", the Master will immediately mark the new koan with a black or white stone. Note that there is no penalty for building a koan that doesn't have the Buddha-nature. The object of the game is not to build koans that have the Buddha-nature; it’s to figure out what the Master’s rule is. In order to do so, you will need to see many examples of both black and white koans. It sometimes happens that the Master has difficulty deciding how a certain koan ought to be marked, because of some physical ambiguity (i.e., "is that red piece just barely pointing at the corner of that blue piece, or is it just missing it?") In such cases, the Master must make a silent judgement call, and then mark the koan appropriately. The Master will not indicate that a judgement call has been made; however, you are always free to ask the Master clarifying questions about the physical features of existing koans, such as "Master, is that small blue piece pointing at the medium red piece?” or "Master, which pieces are touching that yellow piece?" These questions are free, may be asked out of turn, and the Master must always answer them, even if they have no bearing on the actual rule. In all matters of uncertainty, the Master’s judgements are final. Calling "Mondo" If, after you create your new koan, you call "Mondo" instead of calling "Master", each student (including you) must try to answer whether or not the new koan has the Buddha-nature. Pick up your own answering stones, and hide your answer (black or white) in one fist. Hold that fist out over the playing field, and wait for all of the other students to do the same. When everyone is ready, reveal. The Master will mark the koan with the correct answer, and will award a guessing stone to each player who answered the mondo correctly. Katsu As a student, the only time that you're allowed to touch an existing koan is when you're breaking it down (with permission from the group or the Master). If you ever accidentally knock over or disturb an existing koan's pieces at any other time, you, the Master, or one of the other students should say "katsu!" in order to indicate that the board has been disturbed. In such a case, the Master is responsible for restoring the table to its previous state. There is no penalty for "katsu". Guessing the Rule At the end of your turn, if you have any guessing stones, you may choose to spend one or more of them to try to guess the Master’s rule. Give a single guessing stone to the Master and then state your guess as clearly as you can. (It may help to preface your guess with the phrase "a koan has the Buddha-nature if…") If the Master does not fully understand your guess, or if it is ambiguous in some way, the Master will ask clarifying questions until the uncertainty has been resolved. Your guess is not considered to be official until both you and the Master agree that it is official. At any time up until that point, you are free to retract your guess for any reason and to take back your stone. If any koan on the table contradicts your guess, the Master is obligated to point this out, and you may take back your stone in such a case. (Koans that previously existed on the table but have since been broken down should not be considered during this process.) It is the Master's responsibility to make certain that a guess is unambiguous and is not contradicted by an existing koan; all students (including you) are encouraged to participate in this process. After you and the Master agree upon an official guess, the Master will disprove it (if possible), either by building a koan which has the Buddha-nature but which your guess says does not, or by building a koan which doesn't have the Buddha-nature but which your guess says does. If the Master wants to use pieces that are not available in the stash, the Master will tell the group which pieces are wanted; you and the other students must unanimously decide which koans should be broken down to provide these pieces. Once the Master has built the counter-example, and marked the koan appropriately, you are free to spend another guessing stone (if you have one) to take another guess. You may spend as many of your guessing stones as you’d like during this portion of your turn. When you’re finished, play passes to the student on your left. If, after you've stated an official guess, the Master is unable to disprove it, this means that you have achieved "satori" (enlightenment) - you've discovered the Master’s secret rule, and have won the game! Illegal Master’s Rules When you are the Master, you are generally free to try any rule that you can dream up (though you should always try to select a rule that's not too difficult for the current group of players). However, there are some official restrictions. They're all consequences of a basic relational property of koans: a koan is not allowed to refer to anything outside of itself, in space or in time. What does this statement imply? Well, for one thing, it implies that you are not allowed to make a rule that has anything to do with whether or not a piece is pointing at one of the players, because players are things that exist outside of koans. Similarly, you are not allowed to make a rule that has something to do with whether or not a piece is pointing in an absolute direction (say, toward one side of the room), because absolute directions are also things that exist outside of koans. Here's a good rule-of-thumb: you should be able to rotate a table full of koans, or move it into another room, without changing the status of any of those koans. Furthermore, you are not allowed to make a rule in which the status of a koan is affected by the contents of other koans on the table. For instance, the rule "a koan has the Buddha-nature if it contains the same number of pieces as any other koan on the table" is illegal, because koans cannot refer to each other in this fashion. Think of each koan as a tiny microcosm – a small, isolated universe that cannot refer to anything but itself. Don't forget that koans are isolated in time as well as space. You are not allowed to make a rule that has something to do with which pieces used to be in a koan, because a koan's past state is something that exists outside of that koan in time. You are not allowed to make a rule that has something to do with the order in which pieces were added to a koan, or with what hand a player used to add the pieces (which would violate several proscriptions at once). Here's another good rule-of-thumb: as the Master, you should be able to leave the room while a student is setting up a koan, and still be able to mark it properly when you return. Furthermore, if you ever mark two identical koans differently, you've done something wrong. (And note that all pieces of a given size and color are considered to be identical and interchangeable.) Note that the playing surface itself is considered to be part of a koan - it's perfectly legal, for instance, to make a rule that has something to do with whether or not certain pieces are touching the table. However, you're not allowed to make a rule that refers to some pattern or design on the playing surface, nor are you allowed to make a rule that refers to the edges of the surface. Consider the playing surface to be a flat, featureless plane that extends outward in all directions ("whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere", as the philosophers might say). Finally, note that the black and white marking stones are not actually contained within koans, so you're not allowed to make a rule that refers to them. Terminology and Sample Rules If your group has never played Zendo before, Masters should be instructed to start with the easiest rules they can come up with. Beginning Masters vastly underestimate the difficulty of most rules. To give you an idea of where to begin, we’ve provided a number of sample rules that would be suitable for your first games of Zendo. Some of these rules employ special terms like “upright”, “weird”, and “pointing”. We’ve provided definitions for these terms, but be aware that these definitions are merely conventions. When you are the Master, feel free to use whatever concepts you’d like in your rule. When a student takes a guess, ask that student to define his or her terms, and make sure you interpret the guess based on that student’s terminology, not your own. Special Terms Upright - A piece is upright when it is pointing straight upward, with its base parallel to the table (either on it or above it). Flat - A piece is flat when its lowest triangular side is parallel to the table (either on it or above it). Weird - A piece is "weird" if it's neither upright nor flat. Pointing - Every piece has an imaginary "pointing ray" that shoots directly out of its tip and extends outward into space. The pointing ray will pass unhindered through any other piece; however, if the ray hits the table, the ray will bend to skim along the table's surface. A piece is pointing at all of the pieces its pointing ray touches. Sample Rules (Easiest Listed First) A koan has the Buddha-nature if (and only if)... · it contains at least one red piece. · it contains all four colors. · it contains at least one flat piece. · it contains at least two upright pieces. · it contains at least one weird piece. · it contains at least one medium-sized piece. · it contains an odd number of pieces. · it contains all three sizes. · it contains at least one piece that’s not touching the table. · at least two of its pieces are touching each other. · it contains a piece that’s pointing at another piece. · it contains two identical pieces. · it contains exactly two sizes. · it contains exactly three colors. · it contains more yellow pieces than blue pieces. Further Enlightenment Although you now know all you need to know in order to play Zendo, much more has been written about the game, including information about additional terminology, variations on the rules-of-play, how to be a good Master, how to be a good student, and more. This information can be found online at: http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Kory/Games/Zendo/ Enlightenment awaits! A John Cooper Game Introduction Gnostica is an abstract territory-based war game. Tarot cards make up the often-changing board, and players use Icehouse pieces to represent minions that control those territories. Every tarot card has a power, and when a player has one of his pieces on a territory, he or she may use the power of that territory through that piece. Players also have a hand of tarot cards which allow them to use those powers through any of their pieces. Territories are worth points when occupied, and the game ends when one player demonstrates that he or she has the highest score two turns in a row. From Zarcana To Gnostica Gnostica began as a minor redesign of Zarcana, but it became so different from the original that we gave it a new name. We wanted to rework Zarcana to make it easier to learn, more elegant, more balanced, less luck- based, and more active. We wanted to encourage long term strategies and more player interaction. We believe that Zarcana is an excellent game, but that Gnostica is superior in many ways. Some people still prefer the more luck-based and isolationist nature of Zarcana, and that’s fine. Players familiar with Zarcana should judge for themselves. Board Setup Each player starts with a complete 15 piece stash of Icehouse pieces. Deal out 6 tarot cards to each player, then tile 9 cards in a 3x3 grid. These are the first 9 territories that compose the playing area. Any empty space right next to a territory is a "wasteland" space. Pieces may be in a wasteland, and it is just like a territory but without any power. Any empty space not next to any territory is a "void" space. Pieces in the void are immediately returned to the player's stash. No actions may be taken upon void spaces. Draw Pile Place the remaining cards face down as the draw pile. Put the "Infinity" card on the bottom of the draw pile. (Use any extra card or index card as the Infinity card, since it will not be hidden in anyone's hand.) When the last card is used on the draw pile, set the Infinity card next to the draw pile and shuffle the discard pile, making it the new draw pile. Reshuffle the discard pile whenever the draw pile is exhausted. Winning Your score is the total value of territory occupied by only your pieces. Major arcana territories are each worth 3 points, royalty are 2 points, numbered minor arcana cards (also called "spot cards") are 1 point, and wasteland spaces are 0 points. On a Gnostica deck, each card has a number of coin icons showing its value. Looney Labs now sells sticker sheets for adding icons to any tarot deck, and while they are quite handy, any standard tarot deck without stickers can be used to play Gnostica. After the Infinity card appears, if your score is higher than that of every other player at the end of your turn, you may call a challenge round. To do so, take the Infinity card and put it in front of you. If your score is still higher than every other player after your next turn, you win. If not, return the Infinity card next to the draw pile. You may not call a challenge round during someone else's challenge round. Determining Who Goes First To start the game, every player must select a bid card and put it face down. They are revealed and the player with the highest number major arcana card wins the bid. If nobody bid with a major arcana card, then the player with the highest minor arcana card wins the bid. Minor arcana are ordered, top to bottom, as king, queen, knight, page, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and ace. If there is a tie, set aside the bidding cards and then every player must bid again, repeated until one player wins the bid. The player to the right of the winner draws from any of the bid cards until his hand has six cards again, as does each player in turn counterclockwise around the table. Finally, the winner goes first, turns proceeding clockwise. This compensates players who will go last by improving their hands. Orientation and Targeting A piece on the board may point in any of the four cardinal directions or point straight up. To "orient" a piece is to change its direction to any of the five legal directions. A piece of yours that is able to take an action is called your “minion." When pointing up, the minion can target the current space or any pieces in the current space. When pointing out, the minion can target the adjacent space or any of the pieces on that space. The minion can always target itself, regardless of its orientation. As a general rule, when you do something to one of your own pieces, you may change its orientation; however, if you do something to an enemy's piece, you may not change its orientation. Turn Options · If you have no pieces on the board, you may only put a small piece in any orientation on any empty territory or wasteland. Otherwise, do one of the following three options, keeping in mind that all powers are optional. · Activate a card on the board. All your pieces on that card are "minions" and any one of them may use the power of that card, or even two of them if there are two powers on that card. · Play a card from your hand to the discard pile. All your pieces on the board are "minions" and any of them may use the power of that card, or even two of them if there are two powers on that card. · Discard any or none of your cards to the discard pile and then take new cards from the draw pile until you have 6 cards in your hand. You may take fewer cards if you wish. · Orient one piece. Suit Powers Cups - Spawn - Add one of your small pieces to the target territory, but only if there are fewer than three pieces of any ownership in that territory already. Place it in any orientation. You may instead spawn an enemy piece if you are targeting one, in which case you add one of the enemy's small pieces to the target territory in the same orientation as the enemy's original piece, but again you may only add the new piece if there are fewer than three pieces in that territory. If no small piece is available, you may not spawn a new one. Rods - Move - Move the minion in the direction the minion is pointing, or push a target piece in that same direction. It may be moved or pushed up to as many spaces as the minion has pips: small minions move or push one space; medium minions move or push one or two spaces; large minions move or push one, two, or three spaces. However, the moved piece may never end in a territory with three or more pieces in it, nor may it end in a void space. You may not move a piece zero spaces. If the piece moved is yours then you may orient it, but if it is an enemy piece then it retains its original orientation. Note that a piece standing upright may not use a rod. Discs - Grow - This may target a piece or a territory. When growing a piece, the minion or target piece is replaced by a piece exactly one size larger of the same color. If the piece is yours then you may orient it, but if it is an enemy piece then it retains its original orientation. If there isn't a piece of the size you need in the stash, you cannot grow that piece. Alternatively, you may use a disc to grow the target space if it is not occupied by enemy pieces. Discard the targeted territory, if there is one, and then replace it with a territory from your hand that is worth exactly one more point than the original territory. Thus the wasteland (an empty space next to a territory) can be grown to a spot card, a spot card can be grown to a royalty card, or a royalty card can be grown to a major arcana card. You may not grow the void (an empty space not next to a territory). Any pieces that were on the targeted space remain there in the same orientations, even though the territory under them has changed. If you don't have a card in your hand that is worth exactly one more point that the original territory, you cannot grow that territory. Swords - Attack - This may target a piece or a territory. When attacking a piece, the minion shrinks the target piece, also known as the "victim", up to as many pips as the minion has, replacing the victim with the appropriately smaller piece from the victim player's stash in the same orientation as the original victim. Thus a small piece shrinks its victim by one pip; a medium piece by one or two pips; and a large piece by one, two, or three pips. If you shrink the victim down to zero pips, it is simply destroyed, but if the victim would be left with one or two pips and there is no smaller piece to replace it, you cannot shrink it. You may not attack a victim for zero pips of damage. You may allow the minion to attack itself, either shrinking it or even destroying it. If you attack one of your own pieces and it is not destroyed, you may orient it after shrinking it. Alternatively, you may use a sword to attack a territory if it is not occupied by enemy pieces. Shrink the targeted territory's value up to as many pips as the minion has by discarding the territory and replacing it with an appropriately lesser valued card from your hand, or no card if the territory is destroyed. If the territory is not destroyed, and you do not have the required lower valued card in your hand, you cannot do this action. You may not replace the territory with one from your hand that has the same value. If you destroy a territory and it causes any minions to be in the void, they are also destroyed. Notes About Major Arcana With Two Powers Many of the major arcana cards have two powers; the Devil has three. When the card is played from your hand, all of your pieces are minions, and you may split the powers between several pieces or use them all on one piece. For example, when playing Death from your hand, two different pieces may attack with a sword, or any one piece could attack with both swords. When the card is activated on the board then the pieces that touch that card are minions for the duration of the turn, and they able to use the power of the card. For example, when activating the Lovers on the board, one of your pieces could use the rod to move off of the Lovers and yet that piece could still use the cup. Instead, one of your pieces on the Lovers could use the rod to push away an enemy piece, and then another of your pieces on the Lovers could use the cup to create a new piece somewhere else. Whenever the same piece or territory is being affected by two actions, you may take shortcuts that you would not be able to take if you had to do the two actions in two different turns. This will be clarified in each case below. All powers are optional. For example, you may chose to use Temperance for one cup rather than two. You may use the Moon just to attack or just to move. In no case may you reverse the powers of a major arcana that has two different powers. For example, the Sun is always a cup followed by a disc. You may not play the disc first and the cup second. Major Arcana Fool - Turn over the next card from the draw pile and play it. Repeat once. As with all actions, using the powers of these cards is optional. Be careful when activating the Fool on the board that only the minions on the Fool or somehow changed by actions by the Fool may use its power. For example, the Fool is activated on the board and the first card is a rod, and one of the minions on the Fool is moved to another space; the second card is a disc, and any of the minions on the Fool or even the one minion that moved to another space could use the power of that disc. Magician - Use as a sword, rod, cup, or disc. High Priestess - Discard any or none of your cards and then draw your hand up to 6 or fewer cards, then discard and draw again. Empress - Orient a minion, and then use as a cup, ignoring the normal limit of three pieces in a space. Emperor - Orient a minion, and then use as a rod, ignoring the normal limit of three pieces in a space. Hierophant - Replace the target piece with one of yours of the same size, and then orient it. This may not be done if you do not have a piece of the same size in your stash. Lovers - Use as a rod and then use as a cup. Chariot - Use as a rod twice. If both rods move the same piece, it may pass through the void or through a territory that has three or more pieces in it, but may not end there. For example, a small piece could move through a territory that has three pieces in it and come out the other side to an empty territory. Strength - Use as a disc twice. If both discs grow the same piece or space, you may skip the intermediate step. For example, you may grow a spot card to a major arcana card without spending a royalty card. Hermit - Move the target piece to any empty territory or wasteland space. As with normal rods, if you move your own piece it may be placed in any orientation, but if you move an opponent's piece it must remain in the same orientation it had before moving. Wheel of Fortune - Use as a disc. When used to grow territory you may optionally draw the new territory the first card of the draw pile rather than from your hand, and thus replace the target territory (of any size) with the randomly drawn card. This potentially could change a wasteland into a major arcana card if you are lucky, or a major arcana card into a five if you are not lucky. Justice - Trade hands with the player who owns the piece that your minion is targeting; then use as a sword. Hanged Man - Use as a rod; then trade hands with the player who owns the piece that your minion is targeting. Death - Use as a sword twice. If both swords shrink the same piece or space, you may skip the intermediate step. For example, a small piece could kill an opponent's medium even if the opponent had no small pieces left on his stash. Temperance - Use as a cup twice. Devil - Orient a target piece, even if it is not yours. Repeat two times. Note that if you orient your minion as one of the three orientations, its targets change. For example, an upright piece on the Devil could orient to point at a nearby enemy, and then orient two enemies on that territory to point away. The Devil is the only card that allows you to orient an enemy piece, and is the only card with three powers. Tower - Orient a minion, then use as a sword. If used to reduce a territory, the new territory may optionally come from anywhere in the discard pile, rather than your hand. Star - Orient a minion, then use as a disc. If used to grow a territory, the new territory may optionally come from anywhere in the discard pile, rather than your hand. When the Star is played from your hand, it goes into the discard pile, and if you are growing a territory from a royalty to a major arcana, you could grow it into the Star. Moon - Use as a rod and then use as a sword. Sun - Use as a cup and then use as a disc. Judgement - Draw cards from anywhere in the discard pile into your hand, drawing one card for each pip of the minion, but paying attention to the limit of 6 cards. For example, a medium piece on Judgement could draw two cards into your hand, but only if you have four or fewer cards already. When Judgement is played from your hand, any of your minions could be the active minion, and you could use one of the draws to draw back Judgement itself. World - Has the power of any major arcana territory on the board. Credits Director: John Cooper Game designers: John Cooper, Kory Heath, Kristin Matherly, Jacob Davenport Playtesters: Andy Looney, Alison Frane, countless others Technical Writer: Jacob Davenport More Information Gnostica began as an experimental set of changes to Zarcana in April of 2000, and has had a very long and complicated design history. You may read the rules online at http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Jake/ Gnostica.html, and at the end of that page are listed several other documents you may be interested in: a design history overview, FAQ, differences with Zarcana, a strategy guide, and a photo sample of the first Gnostica deck. The Icehouse mailing list frequently discusses Gnostica and other new games, and can be joined at http:// www.wunderland.com/lists.html.