Mars

From IcehouseOrg

Mars is the fourth planet in Earth's solar system. It is currently not thought to be the home of any civilizations, but early astronomers seeing lines on the Martian surface thought these lines might be canals built by a technological civilization. Numerous works of fiction expand on this idea, especially Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles.

When Andy Looney wrote his Empty City series of stories, he added to this mythos. One of his characters believes that as the Martian surface became too dry to support life, the Martians emigrated to Earth. They interbred with Earthlings, but the mark of Martian heritage is red hair.

This character dubbed himself the Emperor of Mars, and founded an organization called "The Children of Mars" to preserve Martian genetics and culture. Within the context of the stories, the Emperor of Mars was the inventor of Icehouse, which he believed to be a recreation of an ancient Martian game.

Icehouse, when it was first released by Icehouse Games, Inc., was originally marketed as "The 100,000 Year Old Game from Mars". This slogan was used for many years.

When Andy Looney designed another game using the pyramids and called it Martian Chess, the tradition of naming Icehouse games that are similar to an Earthling game, "Martian Something" was begun.

When Looney Labs made injection-molded plastic pyramids available as "Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set", the linkage between pyramid games and Mars was solidified. Today, there are many "Martian Something" games available (see Category:Martian theme).