Undercut
An Icehouse game for 3-5 players
What you need:
* 5 different colored stashes of icehouse pieces
* 3-5 Players (best with 4)
* 3-5 markers (one to indicate each player) Poker chips work great, as do pawns
from board games, or even icehouse pieces of colors other than the five
mentioned above
* A bag from which players can draw the icehouse pieces (Some players prefer to
use three separate bags, one for each size of piece, so they don’t have to grope
around in the bag for the size piece they want)
* Paper and pen or pencil (or some other way to do record keeping)
Object of the Game:
To have the LOWEST score when the first player reaches 10 points.
Set Up:
Dump all 5 stashes into the bag
Each player then draws six points worth of pieces (Large= 3pts, Medium= 2pts
Small= 1pt) in any combination of sizes that they want.
On the paper, make a score sheet, with one column for each player plus three
extra. Label the extra three columns “Tree”, “Triplets”, and “Foursome”, and write a 2 in
each of these three columns. Like this:
Fred | Daphne | Velma | Shaggy | TREE | TRIPLETS | FOURSOME
----------------------------------------------------------|
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|
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2 |
2
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2
Game Play:
The player most shaped like an icehouse piece will be the start player for the first round.
Each round consists of two phases:
1) SCORING PHASE
Beginning with the start player and proceeding clockwise around the table,
players must turn in any scoring combinations that they have in their hand for the points
listed under that scoring combination on the records sheet. After each set is turned in, the
pieces are returned to the bag(s) and the score for that combo is increased by one. The
Scoring Combinations are:
TREE – One Large, One Medium, and One Small piece all the same color.
TRIPLETS – Three identical pieces.
FOURSOME – Four pieces the same size in four different colors.
If a player has more than one scoring combo during the scoring phase he may turn
in whichever he likes, but if still left with another scoring combo after those pieces are
returned to the bag, he must turn in that one also.
2) AUCTION PHASE
Once all players have turned in scoring combos, the start player draws several
stacks of One Large, One Medium, and One Small piece and places them in the center of
the table. There will be one fewer stack than players.
Beginning with the start player and proceeding clockwise around the table,
players bid to acquire these stacks. Lowest bid for each stack wins. The value of a bid is
the sum of the point values of its pieces. When two bids have equal value, the one using
fewer pieces is considered lower. So, for example, two smalls is less than one large (2pts
< 3 pts) but one medium is less than two smalls (2pts=2pts, but 1 piece < 2 pieces).
When making a bid, take the pieces from your hand and place them on the table
next to the stack on which you want to bid. Place your marker with your bid so everyone
knows who made the bid. You may bid zero by placing just your marker next to a stack.
If there is already a bid on a stack, any new bid must be lower, and the bid that was
undercut is immediately taken back by the player who placed it (Who will have the
opportunity to place a different bid when the turn comes back to him).
Bidding continues around the table. Anyone who still has their marker has the
chance to undercut any bid on the table when it is their turn. Bidding continues until one
player decides to pass. You may not pass if there is any stack on the table with no bids.
The player that passes immediately gets one point added to his score and draws
one additional piece for his hand. He can root around in the bag to draw whatever size
piece he wants, but cannot choose a specific color.
All other players take the pieces for which they hold the lowest bid into their
hands and return the pieces that they bid with to the bag.
The player who passes becomes the start player and you go back to the scoring
phase.
Game End:
When any player hits ten points, this triggers the end of the game. Finish the
scoring round and then compare scores. Lowest score wins. In the event of a tie use the
pieces in each players hand as a tiebreaker, fewest points wins.
(Link to sample rounds)
Strategy:
Bidding is as much about getting rid of the pieces you bid with as it is about
having to take the ones you bid for.
Pay attention to the combos that other people will get (or avoid) if they win their
current bids.
In the beginning, it’s often worth it to take a scoring combo just to get the pieces
out of you hand. Toward the end, you’ll want to avoid taking any win combos at all
(since they’ll be worth more points). Try to arrange matters so that you can afford to take
extra pieces without making any combos.
A Few Sample Rounds:
(in a perfect world, I’d have made graphics for all of the game states demonstrated
below)
At the start of the game, each player gets to draw six points with of pieces in any
combination of sizes that they choose. Here’s what they drew:
Fred –
Daphne –
Velma Shaggy ROUND 1 – Scoring phase
Fred goes first, but he has no scoring combos, and neither do Daphne or Velma. But
when we get to Shaggy, we see that he has two different scoring combos a set of
TRIPLETS (3 small green) or a FOURSOME (4 different colored smalls) and he can
choose which one to score first. He chooses to score the foursome, so he gets two points,
the value of a foursome goes up to 3, and he gets to dump four of his pieces immediately,
leaving him with just 2 small greens and no remaining scoring combo. The record sheet
now reads:
Fred | Daphne | Velma | Shaggy | TREE | TRIPLETS | FOURSOME
----------------------------------------------------------|
|
|
|
2 |
2
|
2
|
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2
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|
|
3
ROUND 1 – Auction Phase
There are four players, so Fred draws three random stacks of a large, medium and small
piece each and gets:
Fred bids first and places a six point bid on the middle Stack
Daphne bids three on the left stack
Velma Undercuts Fred with a bid of three
Shaggy bids two on the right stack
Fred re-undercuts Velma with a bid of one large (even though this is still three
points, it counts as a lower bid because it uses fewer pieces)
Daphne already has a bid on the table, so she gets skipped and we go to Velma.
Velma undercuts Daphne
Shaggy has a bid on the table and is skipped.
So is Fred.
Daphne Passes - She gets one point and draws a piece. She elects to draw a small piece
and gets a green. She also becomes the start player.
Fred | Daphne | Velma | Shaggy | TREE | TRIPLETS | FOURSOME
----------------------------------------------------------|
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2 |
2
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2
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1
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2
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|
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3
All of the pieces used in bids are thrown back in the bag, and all of the pieces won are
collected by the winners. The current state of affairs is then:
Fred:
Daphne:
Velma:
Shaggy:
Round 2 – Scoring Phase
Starting with the player who passed last round (Daphne)
Daphne – no scoring combos.
Velma – Green TREE. She gets 2 points, the value of trees go up to by one, and she
dumps a L, M, and S green.
Fred | Daphne | Velma | Shaggy | TREE | TRIPLETS | FOURSOME
----------------------------------------------------------|
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2 |
2
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2
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1
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2
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3
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2
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3 |
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Shaggy – no scoring combos.
Fred – Yellow Tree. He gets 3 points, the value of trees goes up by one, and he dumps a
L, M, and S yellow.
Fred | Daphne | Velma | Shaggy | TREE | TRIPLETS | FOURSOME
----------------------------------------------------------|
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2 |
2
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2
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1
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2
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3
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2
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3 |
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3 |
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4 |
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And going into the second Auction Phase, the players are holding:
Fred:
Daphne:
Velma:
Shaggy: