Ice Cool

Published: 2016 by Brain Games

Designer: Brian Gomez

Artist: Reinis Petersons

How it's Played

Ice Cool is a competitive dexterity game for 2 to 4 players. In this game each player is a penguin trying to get the most fish before they are caught by the hall monitor and sent back to class.
Players start by choosing a color, one player is selected to be the hall monitor for the round, the others are the rascals running around the school. The round begins with the hall monitor selecting his starting placement. The first rascal then places his penguin on the red dot in the center of the main classroom. They then flick the penguin anyway they like trying to move around the school. After all the rascals have flicked their penguins, the hall monitor then takes their turn and attempts to chase the others down.
Clipped above the door ways of the school are fish tokens colored to match each of the penguins in the game. The rascals score points by successfully moving their pawn through the door way with their fish tokens, scoring a card from the deck. If the hall monitor tags another player they take their I.D. card.
The round ends when either one of the rascals has gotten all three of their fish tokens, or the hall monitor has taken all the I.D. cards of the rascals. The board is reset, the next player in turn order becomes the new hall monitor and a new round begins.
Score cards come in three denominations, one fish, two fish, or three fish. At any point a player may reveal two cards worth one fish and use them as ice skates, this will allow them to take a second turn in a row.
After all players have had a chance to be the hall monitor the game ends, scores are added up, and the player with the most fish wins!

Final Thoughts

Ice Cool, like a lot of dexterity games is very simple to learn. This is the strength of the game as you can easily open it up and start playing with any age group. The challenge is in the dexterity, lining up your shots and trying to pull off tricks to get the penguins to curve and spin is both satisfyingly difficult and fun. A messed up shot is met with laughter while an impressive curve through two doors while tagging your opponent is met with cheers and high fives!
Worthy of note is the innovative box within a box design, making it easy to clean up and store the game.

This is one of those magical games that anyone can play and have a good time, it's simply fun and worth adding to every collection.