Blam!

by Jon Eargle

Blam! Online, by Aaron Dalton

Object

Push high-scoring pieces off the board and add them to your treasure chest.

You Need

• A chessboard.
• One Icehouse stash for each player. No stash may have the same color as another stash.

Setting Up

Place the chessboard where everyone can reach it.

Give each player one complete stash.

Choose a player to go first.

Play

On your turn, place a piece from your stash in a vacant space on the board. If there are any pieces in adjacent spaces (including diagonals), move them one space directly away from the piece you placed. You’ve just slammed a major impact onto the board, and it scattered nearby pieces.

If a moving piece attempts to enter an occupied space, allow it to, and push the occupying piece into the space beyond; this may cause entire rows of pieces to move.

If a piece attempts to leave the board, place it in your treasure chest—unless it’s your color. If it’s your color, put it in your stash.

Once all pieces have been relocated, your turn ends. Play passes to the left.

The game ends when all stashes are empty or when all players agree to stop playing.

Winning

Each piece has a point value equal to the number of pips on it (1, 2, or 3). Tally the points in your treasure chest and your stash. If your score is the highest, you win.

Variants

Overloaded

Three-unit pieces push other pieces three spaces. Two-unit pieces push other pieces two spaces. One-unit pieces push other pieces one space.

Origin and Credits

Blam! was first conceived by Jon Eargle at Monday Night Games Night around August of 2004. It took him about 15 minutes to develop from start to finish. If I remember correctly, he just decided to make an Icehouse game. Granted, he’d been surrounded by people playing Icehouse games for months, but it was a little startling nonetheless.

Thanks to the Monday Night Games group for playtesting. Thanks to Sharon for editing.