I’ll have a scoop of chocolate, a scoop of choc chip, one of vanilla and can I just squeeze a scoop of pistachio on top of that? Mmm hmm!
Players start with a secret tub of ice cream. In later turns they will have other flavours open on the table. They take it in turns to take a scoop card and add it to a cone on the table. Once they’ve dished out all the scoops, players start grabbing cones. To do this, they need to have tubs that match the flavours in the cone. They keep the scoops that match and score points for these at the end of the round. Players who don’t take a cone add another tub to their collection. So the tactics are for each player to set up cones with flavours that match the tubs of ice cream they have. And interfere with the other players by adding flavours they don’t have to cones they’re building up. There’s also a bit of tactical play in deciding the order to take cones in – players want to remove opportunities for their opponents first. It also pays to stock up on tubs in preparation for the next round. Everybody gets a new, secret tub to start the next round. After four rounds whoever has the most points wins. There’s not a lot to this game, which is not surprising when you realise its intended to be simple enough for six-year olds to play. It is nicely produced, plays quickly and provides some fun, but it’s not a game for gamers. Ice Cream was designed by Joe M Huber and published by Face 2 Face Games. It is a card game for 3-5 players, aged 6+, and takes 20-30 minutes to play. It is available in specialist games shops at around £16. Pevans rates it 4/10 on his highly subjective scale. This review was first published in Games International 20. |
Pevans
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Okay, maybe it’s not the time of year for eating ice cream cones, but this is the theme of Ice Cream. This attractive game has tubs and scoops of six flavours of ice cream and a dozen high quality cones. Well, cards representing them anyway.