Last updated 7 Jan 2000

Island

The idea is simple; you represent the survivors of one ship that smacked into another at sea. Both sunk. The other player is the survivors of the other ship. Of course, if you have more players, more ships might have been involved in the collision! Anyway, there's this little teeny rock of an island, and only enough space for about 10 people to stand there. The first player to have 7 of his or her own survivors standing on the island wins!

How you play; each player has a number of colored thick disks (about 1/2" thick and 1" wide) representing humans. There is a much larger bit of wood, about 3" across and 1/2" thick, could be square or round or any shape, representing the island. Players take turns pushing one of their disks onto the island, from the edge inward, using a Pushing Block. The Pushing Block should be about 1" thick, so that when you push your human onto the island with the Block, it stops moving onto the island just as its edge is flush with the edge of the island. This is to prevent players from pushing the disk side to side, or pushing it too far onto the island. Some disks may be dislodged from the island, if they are leaning off at all, that is, touching the table, then they are removed from the island and returned to that player's pile of humans. Depending on the size and shape of the disks and the number of players, the "winning" number of humans will need to be modified to your liking.

Obviously this game takes a bit of time to make, but it looks cute when you're all done. Using various hardwoods and stains gives it a classier look, but requires even more work.