Rules
Each player has 25 pieces of their type. Fire (#) starts with a single # piece at the central position D4 and moves first.
Players alternate taking turns. Each turn the current player must move one
of their pieces either:
a) to another position on the same island, or
b) to the same position on another island.
In both cases the destination point must be empty. Once the piece is moved, an opponent's piece is automatically added to the position just vacated.
A player controls an island by forming a line or ring of three of their pieces upon it. For instance, the following examples show the seven possible ways in which Fire may control an island:
_ _ _
/ \ / \ / \
/ # \ / # \ / - \
/ \ / \ / \ Line from corner
/ # - \ / - # \ / - - \ to corner.
/ - \ / - \ / - \
/ # - - \ / - - # \ / # # # \
\___________/ \___________/ \___________/
_ _ _
/ \ / \ / \
/ # \ / - \ / - \
/ \ / \ / \ Line from corner
/ - - \ / - # \ / # - \ to edge.
/ # \ / # \ / # \
/ - # - \ / # - - \ / - - # \
\___________/ \___________/ \___________/
_
/ \
/ - \
/ \
/ # # \ <--- These pieces
/ - \ form a ring.
/ - # - \
\___________/
Each of these islands is controlled by Fire regardless of whether the unused positions are empty or occupied by either player. It's not possible for more than one player to control an island at any time.
The game is won by the first payer to form a similar line or ring of three islands under their control.
Sample Game
The following example shows a game won by Ice (O) who controls three islands in a line (A, C and G). Ice also controls the central island D but this is not relevant to the win.
FIRE (#): 4 _ ICE (O): 5
/ \
/ O \
/ \
A / O O \ 1
/ # \
B C / O # O \ 2 3
D \___________/ 4
E F G . . . 5 6 7
. . .
_. . . . . . ._
/ \ . . . / \
/ # \. . ./ # \
/ \ _ / \
/ # # \ / \ / O O \
/ O \ / - \ / # \
/ O # - \/ \/ # O # \
\___________/ # O \___________/
. . / O \ . .
. . / O - - \ . .
_. . . \___________/ . . ._
/ \ . / \ . / \
/ O \ . . / # \ . . / - \
/ \ . . / \ . . / \
/ O - \ ./ # # \. / # # \
/ - \ / O \ / # \
/ # # # \. . . / - O # \ . . ./ O O O \
\___________/ \___________/ \___________/
General Tips
The following points summarise strategies and tactics from the official Fire and Ice rules page: http://www.otb-games.com/fireandice/rules.html
As soon as a player controls an island they can safely move additional pieces off it, as only one player can control an island at a time.Critical islands are usually those at the intersection of lines extending from the pairs of islands most strongly held by both players.
It is often prudent to concede a disputed island and concentrate your efforts elsewhere if the opponent holds the majority of positions upon it.
Each game consists of between 9 and 24 moves per player.
The triangular pattern of seven points which connect into triplets in seven ways is a mathematical construct called the Fano Plane, which is a finite projective plane of order two.
History
Fire and Ice rules and design by Jens-Peter Schliemann. The game is copyright Pin International and distributed by Out of the Box Publishing, who would like to point out that copying for commercial purposes is forbidden.
Further details of the game including its history, variants and additional tips on strategy may be found at Out of the Box's "Fire and Ice" page: http://www.otb-games.com/fireandice/
Implementation and help file by Cameron Browne, November 2003.