Board Games in Review – Martian Coasters – Looney Pyramids

December 21, 2015

Hello and Happy Monday fellow games lovers. A while back I did a basic review on Looney Pyramids, and I may not have conveyed the amount of fun that can be had with these little plastic pyramids. So to further that cause I am going to go into depth into some of my favorite games.

The first game I played a lot of is Treehouse and originally you bought Treehouse sets to get access to the Looney Pyramids. Now they are sold as Looney Pyramids for those wanting to pick up extra pyramids or in a Treehouse set. You can also buy other games that can come with pyramids or just rules.

What Looney Pyramids will You Use in Martian Coasters?

Today I wanted to talk about a wonderful game called Martian Coasters. Now this game is played with one set of pyramids, a nest, of a single color. This games is a lot of fun with three or four players. Each turn you roll the dice which gives you an action of something you can do to the game board or move your pieces in a certain way as well as how many movement points you have to spend. You have to navigate your way through the coasters with all three of

your pieces and get your pieces to the center of your specific coaster.

The board set up seems simple enough the four coasters are arranged in a box pattern and the game pieces are sent to the middle of the three coasters that do not share a color. But after that the chaos happens and even when you feel you are in control it can all be taken a any without notice.

The action die can allow a player to lift a coaster up and not only change its orientation but move it to a completely different location. And for you new players out there do not make the same mistake we did and limit the game structure to the box. When you get a ‘hop’ you can alter the game board and move any coaster and attach it to another coasters edge. If you are rolling hops a lot and want to challenge your other players you can even make the board be a single line. The only thing you can’t do is isolate a coaster. They all must be connected by at least one side.

The fun thing that one of my friends liked to do as a strategy would be to smother a smaller piece with a bigger piece. The Looney Pyramids are denoted by size or pip numbers. Small, medium and large or 1, 2 or 3 pips. So if you move a larger pyramid on top of a smaller pyramid the smaller pyramid cannot move until either the pyramid on top moves away or you dig the pyramid out, using the action die. Another thing that can be done is to go for a ride. If you move on top of another pyramid that is the same size or bigger it can carry you, potentially getting you closer to where you want to go, but equally as likely is to move you away from your goal.

Martian Coasters can be played in 15-20 minutes and does not require much. One Treehouse or set of Looney Pyramids and a set of coasters. So with quick game play and little in the way of requirements you are sure to have a blast with this one. Stay tuned for more awesome Looney Pyramids games, I can even introduce you to some of my favorite Loony Pyramids Games created by fans over at icehousegames.org.

Grab your Pyramids here. Thanks for reading, as always, and Until Next Time Stay Nerdy!