A game for 2-5 players (best with 3). You'll need one stash of Icehouse pyramids per player and one Aquarius deck. Playing time is about 30 minutes.
Give each player pyramids from a different stash:
The player whose age is closest to a multiple of 5 goes first. Play continues clockwise around the table. A turn consists of the following two actions, in either order:
Cards are placed face up in the center of the table according to standard Aquarius placement rules:
All players build on the same playing field. Each Element card must be played so that one of the elements on it matches up with a card already in play. Diagonal connections don't count. Cards cannot be placed skewed or perpendicular to one another.
A Zone is a connected set of panels of the same element. A pyramid may be placed in any Zone that does not already contain a pyramid. Zones containing pyramids may become merged into a single Zone through later card placement, but at the time of pyramid placement the Zone must be empty. Pyramids are never moved or removed after they are placed.
The game ends when all Element cards have been placed. All Goal cards are then revealed, and every pyramid scores points for its owner: its size (1, 2, or 3) multiplied by the size (number of cards) of its Zone, doubled if the element of the Zone matches the player's Goal card. The player with the most total points wins.