As probably with most people, I have been playing board games since I was a young kid. Yet it has really been over the past decade or so that I heavily got into modern board gaming. However even with all these games under my belt, and there are a lot, I still get surprised from time to time.

Some games are just pure fun, while others are so bad they should never have been made. But there are also games that really should not be as much as fun as they are. Our newest Game of the Week falls into that last category.

Ice Cool

Ice Cool is a dexterity game about flicking penguins around a frozen school house. And that’s the basics of it. No really. It’s just that simple. Each round, one player takes on the role of the school master, with the others playing the part of the students. It’s the students job to flick their weeble-like penguins through doorways to collect fish. Meanwhile, the school master is trying to catch those pesky students by running into them. And that’s about all there is to it. There are a few other wrinkles, like scoring cards and trick shots, but you get the basics.

So when I first heard about Ice Cool, I was not impressed. It seemed like a silly kids game. Boy was I wrong! Ice Cool joins the ranks of games like Coconuts that are way more fun than they have any right to be. Once you start flicking these penguins around the board, it’s hard not to become addicted to the game play.

This is especially true because you can do trick shots once you get good. Just watch this video. You can send your penguins spiraling through multiple doors or even jump over walls! Players come for the flicking fun, but stay to try and master trick shots. Combine all this with Ice Cool’s super accessible nature, and you have our newest Game of the Week.

2-4 PLAYERS • AGES 6+ • 20 MINUTES • $29