Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Don't Break the Ice Board Game
Games are a great way to pass the time with children of all ages and while only a fraction are educational in nature, most encourage family togetherness, which helps make them valuable nonetheless. One simple game that allows parents to spend time with their young ones is Don't Break the Ice, a simple, quick game from Milton Bradley.
Game Facts:
Don't Break the Ice consists of thirty- eight total pieces. There are 32 "cubes" of ice; one large cube that is equal in size to four of the smaller cubes; one red- colored person with skates; two interlocking sides that form the base in which the pieces of ice are placed; and two mallets.
To get Don't Break the Ice started, you first must lock the blue- colored side pieces together to form the base. Then, with the base turned upside down, the individual pieces of ice need to be locked into place. Once all thirty- three pieces of ice are in place, the base is then flipped right- side up and the plastic skating figure is placed on top of the large block.
To play Don't Break the Ice, each of two players taps a piece of the ice until it breaks off and completely falls through. The play continues until the skater falls through the ice. The player who caused the skater to fall through the ice loses the game.
Final Thoughts:
Don't Break the Ice is a classic game that has been around for decades. I can remember owning this game and playing it with my sisters and friends more than thirty years ago. A few changes have taken place with Don't Break the Ice over the years, but the game is still basically the same. The only differences that immediately come to mind are the skater (used to be a man that stood on the large piece of ice) and the base, which now consists of two pieces (used to be a single piece) that have to be locked together. Otherwise, the game looks the same and is played the same way as before.
Don't Break the Ice is a quick game to play and this makes it a good choice when you want a little family togetherness but don't have time for a longer game. It is only a matter of time until a player has no choice but to tap the final pieces of ice and cause the skater to fall through. Often, more than one piece of ice will fall with a single tap, and this speeds up the play time even more. Mathematically, the absolute greatest number of taps it will take before the skater falls through (assuming the large block with the skater is placed in the middle- it can actually be placed anywhere you like but most people place it in the middle) is twenty- nine. If each tap caused exactly one piece of ice to fall, and players practiced the utmost care in tapping the pieces of ice all around the skater in precisely the right order, there would have to be a minimum of five pieces left at the end: The large cube with the skater and two cubes on each side, holding the skater in place. At this point, twenty- eight pieces of ice would have been eliminated. Assuming the law of gravity is still valid, the twenty- ninth tap would have to cause the skater to fall through. Tapping is quick, so, at the very longest, Don't Break the Ice will still be over in about five minutes.
Setting up Don't Break the Ice takes almost as much time as playing the game and this is where some young people will need a little assistance. In order to get the pieces of ice to stay in place, a certain amount of pressure is necessary, and some young people will grow frustrated with this aspect of playing the game. They won't be able to place the necessary pressure on the pieces of ice and will be unable to set the game up without help from an adult or older kid.
Don't Break the Ice is now packaged in a smaller box and while this is certainly a good idea from a conservationist standpoint, it also means a little more assembly. Not only that, but putting the game away will likely require the assistance of a parent or older child because the blue- colored sides of the base have to be placed just right or they will not fit inside the box. And if the blocks of ice are placed in the box first, there will be no way to get the two pieces of the base inside the box. The fact that it requires this level of effort will make many youngsters frustrated and they will likely leave the game out of the box as a result.
Overall, Don't Break the Ice is a good, simple game that can be played to completion in a matter of minutes. Milton Bradley recommends this game for children ages three and older and it makes a good choice as an introductory game for youngsters. Okay, so the family togetherness is short- lived. But some family time is better than none and Don't Break the Ice allows parents a means to play a game with their children when free time is limited.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 7 Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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