Pyramid Review
Ice Flow
Published by Ludorum Games
Designed by Dean Conrad & John Streets
Illustrated by Rich Aidley
24 Blue Acrylic Ice Floe Tiles, Cloth bag, 12 Explorer Pieces in 4 Colors, 15 Red Rope Pieces, 15 Brown Fish Pieces, 5 White Polar Bear Pieces, 2 Diomede Island Cards, 14 Ice Flow Cards, 4 Player Guide Cards, 4 Rucksack Cards, 12 by 18.5-Inch Full Color Board, & Four-Page Full Color Rules Leaflet; $49.95
Games Expo is my local games convention here in Birmingham. In just two years it has acquired a good reputation, the organizers working very hard to cater to not just a wide spectrum of gamers, but also a family audience. This year I decided to get involved, and did so by being a judge for the convention's own awards. My speciality was RPGs, but since the convention places an emphasis on board games, I also took note of those nominated for the Games Expo award. The winner was Ice Flow, the second game from Ludorum Games, a publisher whose first game, Fagin's Gang, just happened to win the same award at Games Expo '07.
Ice Flow is a light, euro-style board game with a strong race theme and a minor ecological theme, with both puzzle and resource management aspects. Designed for two to four players, aged 11 plus, a game can be completed in roughly an hour for the younger players. For them, it can be played as a simple race game, but for older or more experienced players Ice Flow has a nasty "take that" mechanic that will quickly cure you of any love you had for the polar . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: October 17, 2008
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