FULL REVIEW

Don Kirkby
Abstract Games Magazine
August, 2003
Canada

Fire and Ice is a new three-in-a-row game with pleasant depth. It is part of the new Masterpiece games series from Out of the Box Publishing, best known for Apples to Apples and other inexpensive, simple games. The series marks their entry into the decorative board game market where Gigamic has been so successful with Quarto, Pylos, Quixo, and others. As well as elegant mechanics, these games all have a rich aesthetic: deep color schemes, solid playing pieces, and a strong tactile experience. Fire and Ice deserves a place in this category; the price is the same, and it meets the aesthetic criteria. It has a solid wood board with some heft to it, felt lined bins for the pegs, and a nice finish on the pegs. I would have chosen darker colors for the pegs, but perhaps the game's theme suggested something brighter.

The board has an interesting symmetry: seven raised islands arranged in a triangular version of a pentagram, and then each island has seven holes in that same triangular pattern. You control an island by placing three pegs in a row, and you win the game by controlling three islands in a row. The best thing about the game's design is its movement mechanic: when you move a peg, add one of your opponent's pegs in its place. This means your opponent decides where your pegs are added to the board, not you. It also leads to a less direct attack: moving pegs around on a single island only increases your opponent's strength there. You must attack from outside.

Strategy borrows from Tic Tac Toe; a double threat on an island guarantees control of that island. A double threat of controlled islands (two sets of two islands in a row) gives a huge advantage because you can sacrifice one of your target islands to secure the other.

Because of the board pattern, draws are impossible. A full island must be controlled by one player or the other. Therefore, a full board must be won by one player or the other. The pattern also means that both players always need the same island to finish, so a good defense is also a good offense.

I have played about ten times so far, and it is still interesting and open to exploration. It played reasonably well also with my ten-year-old nephew, but it is not really a children's game—wait until they outgrow Connect Four. Fire and Ice is a solid addition to any collection of abstract games.

Back to FIRE AND ICE Reviews page