What Can I Play?

Interested in exploring the wider world of Pyramid games? With games currently recorded on this wiki, it can sometimes be difficult and overwhelming to figure out what to try next. This page is intended to serve as a navigational chart to help players, new and old alike, find quality games. It has been carefully compiled and curated by experienced Starship Captains over the last 17 years. Not all of the games may be a good fit for your particular group, but each is notable in its own way. So, regardless of whether you have the opulent Pyramid Arcade, an older IceDice bag, or even some of the venerable Treehouse tubes, hopefully you will find something below that can give you hours (or at least minutes) of enjoyment.

Further Resources[edit | edit source]

Ready to dive a little deeper? Visit the Browse games page to find up-to-date lists of all games based on a variety of search criteria such as complexity, number of players, or equipment required.

Interested in seeing the most recent games? Check out these Games Released in the Past Five Years

Feeling bold and adventurous? Want to try something wild and weird? There are many games in development that could use comments or playtesting.

Looking for more detailed reviews and comments? Have a read through our links to reviews found on the web.

Using These Lists[edit | edit source]

The most useful unit for counting pyramids is the "Trio" (one pyramid of each size, all of the same color). Most of the lists below are organized by how many trios are required per color. Most of the time, you can expand the number of games you can play with your collection by grouping trios from two similar colors and treating them as if they were a single color. This works particularly well for abstract games in which color does not have any meaning beyond player ownership.

Recommended color pairs
Red - Orange Yellow - Clear Green - Cyan Blue - Purple Black - White

Many of the older game rules still refer to "Icehouse stashes", "Treehouse sets", or "Rainbow/Xeno stashes". These are all remnants of how the pyramids were packaged for sale by Looney Labs at the time the rules were written. In all cases, a "stash" means 5 trios in either a single color (Icehouse or monochrome) or five different colors (Treehouse, Rainbow, or Xeno).

Only representative games are listed in each section. Please see the additional links in each section for more related games.

Legend

^A = Winner of a Pyramid community or boardgame industry design award.
^F = (TO BE ADDED SOON) Fan favorites. These games rank consistently high on Starship Captain lists.
^P = Published Games
^SDG = Playable at SuperDuperGames

Any Color of Trios[edit | edit source]

Color does not actually matter in these games. As long as you have the right number of trios, you can play them.

Armada^P: 2p, 5 trios, Miniature wargame

Cardinal Connections: 2-4p, 4 trios, Orientation control

Epicycle: 2p, 5 trios, Shared pieces

IceSickle^P: 2p, 5 trios, Jumping & capturing

Martian Chess^{A, P, SDG}: 2-4p, 3 trios per player, Abstract strategy

Hijinks^P: 2p, 3 trios, Quick pattern forming

Rotationary^P: 1p, 5 trios, Solitaire puzzle

Thin Ice^P: 2-10p, 5 trios per player, Light dexterity

Tic Tac Doh!^P: 2p, 5 trios, Shared n-in-a-row

Treehouse^{A, P}: 2-4p, 1 trio per player + 1 extra, Pattern matching

Full list of games requiring One color

Variable Number of Trios per Color[edit | edit source]

These games require a variable number of trios, usually based on the number of players.

Homeworlds (Non-Binary)^{P, SDG}: 3-6p, 1 trio per player + 1, 4 colors, Space chess chaos

IceDice^P: 2-3p, 1 trio per player in 5 colors, Push-your-luck set collection

Plutonian Poker: 2-6p, 1 trio per player + 1 in 5 colors, Stack building

Pikemen^{P, SDG}:, 2-4p, 5, 4, or 3 trios (for 2, 3, or 4 players), 1 color per player, Abstract strategy

Quintazone: 2-5p, 1 color per player with 5, 3, or 2 trios (for 2, 3, or 4-5 players), Card laying with hidden goals

RAMbots^P: 2-4p, 1 trio per player + 1 in 4 colors, Simultaneous programming

Virus Fight: 2-5p, 1 trio per player in 5 colors, Strategy programs

Full list of games requiring Trios per color per player

One Trio per Color[edit | edit source]

3-High: 1-4p, 5 colors, Cooperative

Apophis^A: 1-4p, 5 colors, Real-time cooperative

Crosswalk: 2p, 5 colors, Abstract race

Gleebs and Grues: 2p, 5 colors, Quick abstract

Looney Ludo^P: 2-6p, 1 color per player, Dynamic race

Nothing Beats a Large^P: 2-5p, 5 colors, RPS with hidden goals

Penguin Soccer^SDG: 2p, 3 colors, Abstract strategy

Pharaoh^P: 2-4p, 1 color per player, Area control

Twin Win^P: 2-3p, 5 colors, Hidden goals

Zamboni Wars: 2-4p, 1 color per player, Maze battle

Full list of games requiring One trio per color

Two Trios per Color[edit | edit source]

Folio: 2p, 4 colors, N-in-a-row restriction

Freeze Tag^A: 2-4p, 1 color per player, Racing

Ice Dao: 2p, 2 colors, Shifting n-in-a-row

Landing Zone: 2-5p, 1 color per player, Simple dexterity

Martian 12s^A: 2-5p, 5 colors, Gambling

Mundialito^A: 2p, 5 colors, Abstract soccer

Timelock: 1-2p, 5 colors, Pattern matching

Full list of games requiring Two trios per color

Three Trios per Color[edit | edit source]

Black ICE^P: 2p, 5 colors, Hidden information

Dectana: 2-5p, 1 color per player, Territory control

Homeworlds (Binary)^{P, SDG}: 2p, 4 colors, Space chess

Homeworlds Settlers: 2p, 4 colors, Territorial and chess-like

IceTowers^P: 2-6p, 1 color per player, Real-time strategy

Pyrinoes^A: 2p, 5 colors, Hybrid dominoes

Skurðir: 2-5p, 5 colors, Route building

Volcano (Pyramid Arcade)^P: 2-3p, 10 colors, Competitive puzzle

World War 5^P: 2-4p, 1 color per player, Area control

Zark City^P: 2-5p, 1 color per player, Area control

Full list of games requiring Three trios per color

Four Trios per Color[edit | edit source]

Infiltrate: 2p, 2 colors, Abstract strategy

Moscow Ice: 2-4p, 1 per player, Similar to Chinese Checkers

Full list of games requiring Four trios per color

Five Trios per Color[edit | edit source]

Alien City^{A, SDG}: 2p, 3 colors, City building

Ambush^A: 2p, 2 colors, Capturing

Blam!^SDG: 2-4p, 1 color per player, Quick abstract

Blockade^P: 2p, 6 colors, 2D race

Branches & Twigs & Thorns^{P, SDG}: 2-4p, 1 color per player, Go-like abstract

CrackeD Ice^P: 3-5p, 1 color per player, Dexterity

Edges: 2p, 2 colors, Abstract placement

Extinction: 2p, 2 colors, Abstract strategy

Gnostica^P: 3-6p, 1 color per player, Territory control

Hextris: 2-3p, 1 color per player, Pattern building

Icehouse^P: 3-5p, 1 color per player, Real-time strategy

Kotra: 2 or 4p, 1 color per player, Inspired by Backgammon

Krump: 2p, 1 color per player, Abstract strategy

Logger: 2-4p, 5 colors + 2 opaque trios, Growing & chopping

Mandala: 2-5p, 5 colors, Set collection

Martian Backgammon^P: 2p, 2 colors, Inspired by Backgammon

Mega Volcano^{P, SDG}: 1-4p, 9 colors, Competitive puzzle

Nile: 2p, 5 colors, Worker placement

Pylon^A: 2p, 2 colors, Placement & stacking

Quicksand^A: 2p, 2 colors, Capture & rotation

Sprawl^A: 3-8p, 1 color per player, Building & blocking

Stack Control: 2-5p, 5 colors, Stacking & elimination

Subdivision: 2-4p, 1 color per player, Restricted placement

Synapse-Ice: 2p, 2 colors, Placement restriction

Torpedo^A: 2-5p, 1 per player, Real-time strategy

Undercut^A, 3-5p, 5 colors, Reverse auction

Volcano (Classic)^{P, SDG}: 1-4p, 5 colors (plus caps)

Zagami^P: 4p, 4 colors, Engine building

Zarcana^P: 2-4p, 1 color per player, Territory control

Zendo^{A, P, SDG}: 3-7p, 4 colors, Inductive reasoning

Full list of games requiring Five trios per color

Six Trios per Color or More[edit | edit source]

Caldera^P: 2-3p, 5 colors, Competitive puzzle

Full list of games requiring Six trios per color or more

Number of Players[edit | edit source]

Choose the number of players you have on hand to play:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
games for play groups that can be any size

Other Languages[edit | edit source]

Online Play[edit | edit source]

Online implementations of various games at: