History timeline

A History of Looney Pyramid games

1987

• Andrew Looney writes The Empty City. He and John Cooper create a game similar to the one described in the book. At some point not long after this, Andy, the future Kristin Looney, and his friends start casting the first pyramids from resin in Andy's apartment. The resin fumes lead to many tenant complaints, and Andy eventually moves out.

1988

• September: The first known photograph of Icehouse is taken. It's a three-way game between Andy, John Cooper, and Some Other Guy, held at the Maryland RenFaire. You can see the photo at this WWN article.

1989

• May 29: The first International Icehouse Tournament was held (poolside) at the CapClave sci-fi convention. Joyce Choat won the final match, and Robert Atwood wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• The First 100 boxed sets of solid plastic pieces become available.

1990

• March: Hypothermia #1 is published.
• May: Hypothermia #2 is published.
• May 26-27: Ruth Conley wins the 2nd International Icehouse Tournament. To date, she was the last woman to win the IIT. Stevyn Travillian wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• June 26: U.S. Patent #4,936,585 is granted, protecting Icehouse.
• November: Hypothermia #3 is published.

1991

• May: Hypothermia #4 is published.
• May 25-26: Keith Baker wins the 3rd International Icehouse Tournament, and the Cooler Than Ice award.
• The Empty City stories are published as a novel.

1992

• Icehouse email list established
• March: Hypothermia #5 is published.
• Wooden pieces (aka: Xyloid pieces) are made available.
• The Walls rule is removed from Icehouse
• May: Hypothermia #6 is published.
• May 23-24: Bates Team wins the 4th International Icehouse Tournament. Dan Efran wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• June: Hypothermia #7 is published.
• December: Hypothermia #8 is published.

1993

• May: Hypothermia #9 is published.
• May: Dan Russett wins the 5th International Icehouse Tournament. Frank Cooper wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• November: Hypothermia #10 is published.

1994

• June: Dan Russett wins the 6th International Icehouse Tournament, the first repeat champion in Icehouse history, and to date the only person to win consecutive IITs. David Hendrickson wins the Cooler Than Ice award.

1995

• Andy's videogame Icebreaker is published by Magnet.
• January 29: Andy develops Martian Chess, the second game created for Icehouse pyramids, thus making them officially a game system.
• April: Hypothermia #11 is published.
• "Unbreakable" solid plastic pieces are briefly available.
• May: Elliott "Eeyore" Evans wins the 7th International Icehouse Tournament. Greg Crowe wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• September 16: Andy develops Trice, fittingly the third game for the pyramids.
• December 31: At the official annual shareholder's meeting for Icehouse Games Inc., the attendees talked about creating new games for the pyramids, and focusing on them instead of Icehouse. John Cooper begins developing a game that used pyramids with Tarot cards (although he'd been pondering a tarot card game since long before that).

1996

• January: Andy writes a memo called The New Long Range Plan in which he documented his new vision for pyramid promotion and marketing. The memo mentions then-titled Arcana as well as Igloo, making those games #4 and #5 for the pyramids, respectively.
• April: Hypothermia #12 is published.
• May 25: Jacob Davenport wins the 8th International Icehouse Tournament. Dave Wendland wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• November: Hypothermia #13 is published.
• Icehouse Games, Inc. goes out of business.
• Looney Labs is founded by Andrew and Kristin Looney.
• Zarcana is developed by John Cooper.

1997

• Weekly updates begin at Wunderland.com.
• Andy Looney creates Martian Chess, the first Icehouse game using shared pieces.

1998

• July 4: Elliott "Eeyore" Evans wins the 9th International Icehouse Tournament.

1999

• May 30: Joseph Grayson wins the West Coast Icehouse 1 tournament. Lindy Laurent wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• July 3: Andrew Looney wins the 10th International Icehouse Tournament. Elliott "Eeyore" Evans wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• October 15: The first injection-molded plastic pieces are manufactured at KLON. Here's an article about it.
• November: Looney Labs releases Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set. Making use of the new stackability of the molded pieces, rules are included for the first stacking game for Icehouse pieces, IceTowers.

2000

• April: Black and clear pyramids debut in Black Ice, along with an early chessboard bandana.
• July 15: Elliott "Eeyore" Evans wins the 11th International Icehouse Tournament. Evans is the first person to win the IIT three times. Eric Zuckerman wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• Robert Szasz wins the West Coast Icehouse 2 tournament. Joseph Grayson wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• Kristin Looney designs Volcano, using all six then-available colors. The 5x5 board used for the game becomes known as the Volcano board

2001

• July 7: Jacob Davenport wins the 12th International Icehouse Tournament. Mike Sugarbaker wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• Hypothermia #14 is published. The timer rule is officially added to Icehouse.
• Bob Galloway wins the West Coast Icehouse 3 tournament, and wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• November: Looney Labs starts selling a-la carte stash tubes, introducing purple and orange pyramids.
• Zarcana's evolution into Gnostica by Cooper & Co. nears completion.

2002

• March 5: U.S. Patent #6,352,262 is granted, protecting IceTowers.
• July 6: Liam Bryan wins the 13th International Icehouse Tournament, and the Cooler Than Ice award.
• Hypothermia #15 is published.
• Playing with Pyramids is published.
• Bob Galloway wins the West Coast Icehouse 4 tournament. A.L. Spehr wins the Cooler Than Ice award.

2003

• The boxed set of Zendo is released at Origins.
• July 6: Jacob Davenport wins the 14th International Icehouse Tournament. Yvonne Kelly wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• July: ICE-7 is published.
• The boxed set of IceTowers is released in time for the holidays, introducing the cyan pyramids.

2004

• June 26: Eric Zuckerman wins the 15th International Icehouse Tournament. Julia Tenney wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• September 11: Sprawl is declared the winner of the 1st Ice Game Design Competition (IGDC).
• December 4: Undercut is declared the winner of the 2nd IGDC.

2005

• March 9: Hextris is declared the winner of the 3rd IGDC.
• April: Aaron Dalton launches Super Duper Games, which eventually hosts online versions of several Icehouse games.
• April 25: IcehouseGames.org established.
• June: Mailing list migrated 2005-6 archive
• June 6: Torpedo wins the 4th IGDC.
• Jacob Davenport wins the 16th International Icehouse Tournament. Davenport becomes the first person to win the IIT four times. Jesse Welton wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• Hypothermia #16 is published, and includes the official rules for the first four IGDC winners.

2006

• Looney Labs introduces Treehouse at the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas. For the first time, Icehouse pieces are not sold in stash form. The Treehouse Revolution breaks the stash-based paradigm that Icehouse game designers had been using for nearly a decade.
• Gray pyramids debut as Volcano caps (and as a Rabbit promo).
• July 2: First official Treehouse Tournament held at Origins.
• July 2: Julian Lighton wins the 17th International Icehouse Tournament. Josh Drobina wins the "Cooler Than Ice" award.
• November: Martian Coasters is published. A promo 5th coaster is released the following month.

2007

• Andy Looney develops Black Ice for inclusion in the 3HOUSE Book, replacing a spot reserved for simplified IceTowers.
• July 28: Oldergames.com publishes Icebreaker II, the unfinished sequel to the original pyramid smashing video game. It was first new release for the obsolete 3DO console in over a decade.
• Treehouse wins the Origins Award for Best Board Game of 2006.
• Timothy Hunt wins the XVIII International Icehouse Tourmament, and the Cooler Than Ice award.
• The Icehouse Game Design Competition is relaunched in the Summer '07 season, coordinated by David Artman through this wiki. Pylon, by Doug Orleans, is declared the winner on September 23.

2008

• February 20: Martian 12s, by Avri Klemer, is declared the winner of the Icehouse Game Design Competition, Winter 2008.
• In preparation for an upcoming 3HOUSE package, Andy Looney designs Zark City, a reduction of Zarcana into a smaller, simpler game that uses playing cards.
• June: Tucker Taylor wins the XIX International Icehouse Tournament, held at Origins. Kat Dutton wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• July: Ambush, by Jason Spears, wins the Icehouse Game Design Competition, Summer 2008.
• November: A free copy of board and rules for World War 5 is mailed to all on the Looney Labs mailing list as their Holiday Gift for 2008.
• December: Pink Treehouse arrives on store shelves. Containing the eponymous 12th color of pyramids, proceeds from this special Treehouse package go towards fighting breast cancer.

2009

See also: New in 2009

• Apophis wins the Spring 2009 IDGC.
• June: Jacob Davenport wins tthe XX International Icehouse Tournament. To date, he is the only person to win five IITs, and has been the IIT champion more often than any other human being. Timothy Eller wins the Cooler Than Ice award.
• Nothing Beats a Large debuts as the annual Looney Labs Holiday Gift to fans.

2010

See also: New in 2010

• June, Origins:
  • Quicksand wins the "Best of 2009" award.
  • Ryan McGuire wins the XXI IIT, and the Cooler Than Ice award.
• Pharaoh debuts as the annual Looney Labs Holiday Gift to fans.

2011

See also: New in 2011

• The Icehouse game system is officially renamed the Looney Pyramid game system. The original Icehouse system name is retained as the traditional name.
• Looney Labs ends its twelve-year relationship with pyramid manufacturer KLON. Pyramid manufacturing is offshored to China.
• Origins, June 25:
  • Jake Davenport wins the XXII IIT and the Cooler Than Ice award, becoming the only person to win six IITs and the only repeat IIT champion to be Cooler Than Ice.
  • Andy Bond wins the 2010 Ice Award for his design, Pyrinoes.
• September 30: IceDice and Launchpad 23 are published in the new packaging. The launch was delayed three months due to complications with European toy safety laws.
• December: The rules for Pyramid Shambo and Lunar Invaders are released online.

2012

See also: New in 2012

• Looney Labs discontinues its official presence at Origins. This ends the Big Experiments. 2012 was the first year since 1997 without an IIT.
• Treehouse (second edition) is published, which includes the rules and cloth board for Pharaoh.
• Pink Hijinks is published, and the rules are distributed online as the Looney Labs Holiday Giftfor 2012.
• Pyramid Primer is published.

2013

See also: [[New in 2013]

2016

• August: Looney Labs successfully crowdfunds Pyramid Arcade, a set of 90 pyramids in 10 colors. "Kickstarter Green" becomes the 13th pyramid color and the 4th opaque pyramid color. The chessboard bandana is reprinted as a stretch goal.
• November: Pyramid Arcade hits the shelves of brick-and-mortar stores.
• December: Sandships is published as the Looney Labs Holiday Gift for 2016.

2017

• December: Zendo gets a new boxed release.
• Lava Flows is published as the Looney Labs Holiday Gift for 2017.

2018

• December: IceToids is published as the Looney Labs Holiday Gift for 2018.

2019

• December: The Closest Ghost is published as the Looney Labs Holiday Gift for 2019.

2020

• Looney Labs releases the Pyramid Quartet, four standalone small-box releases of specific pyramid games: Homeworlds, Martian Chess, **IceDuo** (a combination of IceDice and Twin Win), and the previously unpublished Nomids. **Martian Chess** is released with two new colors, silver for Kickstarter backers and opaque red for retail.
• Due to rising production costs, Pyramid Arcade temporarily goes out of print.
• December: Bowler Rink is published as the Looney Labs Holiday Gift for 2020

2024

• Looney Labs releases Jinxx a new small-box format pyramid game. It reintroduces grey pyramids

A History of IcehouseGames.org

2005

• Mike Sugarbaker founds the IcehouseGames.org domain and establishes the first fan Wiki

2007

• A big MediaWiki update fixes many longstanding errors with the site. Image uploads resume, and the icehousegames.org logo returns.
• August: The wiki is used to organize and conduct the Summer 2007 IGDC.
• September: The 200th Icehouse game is added to the wiki.

2008

• The Winter 2008 IGDC is organized through the wiki, and the Summer 2008 IGDC is planned here as well.
• Brian Campbell succeeds Mike Sugarbaker as the Supreme Curator.

2009

• January: The 250th Icehouse game is added to the wiki.
• December: The 300th Icehouse game is added to the wiki, thanks to student use of the wiki to coordinate their classroom game designs.

2011

• March: The 350th Icehouse game is added to the wiki. Special thanks to Nihilvor for adding heretofore neglected games from SLICK.

2012

• April: The 400th Icehouse game is added to the wiki.

2016

• Change happens, and user accounts and related content is lost, but the wiki lives on.

2022

• icehousewiki.org suffers issues regarding formatting, causing usability issues.

2023

• PyramidGames.wiki is born, a migration of icehousewiki.org at a state when it was still working. New admins are user:Kataclysm and user:Dazeysan