PYRA – A fire & ice strategy game

PYRA

PLACE • TRANSFORM • CLAIM

Fire. Ice. Sixteen discs. One tiny battlefield. Plenty of opportunities to ruin the move you were absolutely certain was brilliant.

PYRA is a compact two-player abstract strategy game based on the clever mechanics of Soulaween , redesigned around a Fire vs. Ice theme and made with 3D printing in mind.

On your turn, place a double-sided Element Disc as either Fire or Ice. The surrounding elements then transform, potentially creating a line of four matching discs. Simple enough. Unfortunately, every disc you place also changes the discs around it, so the board has a habit of disagreeing with your carefully constructed plans.

Place → Transform → Claim.

• Place an Element Disc on an empty space with either Fire or Ice facing up. Then flip the orthogonally adjacent discs.
• Create four matching elements in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line to claim the set.
• When you claim a set, keep one of the four discs as your score marker and return the other three to the supply.
• The first player to claim three sets wins .
• Fire and Ice are not player colours: both players are free to use either element on every turn.

• Once everyone understands why placing a disc in the obviously correct spot was actually a terrible idea, you can add Elemental Mode .
• Each player gets one of three asymmetric powers:
• SHAPER changes how you win.

Instead of simply claiming three lines, you must claim three different formations: Line, Square and Bend .

• WEAVER changes how you transform the board.

Choose whether your next move flips the discs orthogonally ( Cross ) or diagonally ( Diamond ).

• BINDER changes what your opponent may claim.

Claim Fire and your opponent's next successful claim must be Fire. Claim Ice and they must follow with Ice.

• And because this is a 3D-printing project, I really didn't want to add another pile of tokens just to keep track of all that. The inside of the box lid doubles as the Elemental Mode player board/token holder , with dedicated areas for Shaper, Weaver and Binder. Your won Element Discs are used to track your score, Shaper formations, Weaver mode and Binder effects. Before Weaver has won a disc, an unused disc from the supply temporarily does the job.
• No cards. No dedicated score tokens. No separate Elemental components. Just the parts that were already there doing a little more work.

• 4×4 travel friendly playing board, that doubles as a compact storage box
• 16 double-sided Fire / Ice Element Discs
• Lid with integrated Shaper, Weaver & Binder tracking areas
• Basic game and Elemental Mode

The complete one-page rules are included in the attached files , covering setup, the basic Game and all three Elemental Mode powers.

The design was made to be straightforward & quick to print. Using contrasting colours for Fire, Ice and the main components obviously gives the nicest thematic result. Or just use whatever filament is already loaded. The elements will cope.

PYRA is a fan-made retheme of Soulaween , designed by Shi Chen and originally published by Play With Us Design . The original game mechanics and design belong to their respective designer and publisher. PYRA reimagines the game with a Fire & Ice theme and newly designed, 3D-printable components. This is a non-commercial fan project.