Igloo Pop

Designers: Heinz Meister, Klaus Zoch
Manufacturer: Rio Grande Games
Artists: Victor Boden
Year: 2003
Players: 2 – 6
Time: 15 – 20 minutes
Ages: 7 and up

This game is entirely different from every other game we own. The theme is on the silly side.

The young ice giant has a big problem: he wants to buy fish sticks, but he cannot remember how many and he has nine shopping lists in his basket. So he goes from igloo to igloo and shakes each. In each he listens to the delicious fish sticks bouncing off the igloo walls. When he thinks that the igloo in his hand has the same number of fish sticks as one of his shopping lists, he takes it home. When he gets home, there are no fish sticks in the igloo. Instead, wild and laughing Eskimo children tumble out of the igloo. Excitedly they shout, “Shake us again!” “That was great fun!” “This is super”, thinks the young ice giant. “Now, I have found some new friends to play with!” And, he promptly forgets all about his shopping lists. (funagain.com)

What makes it so interesting to me is that it’s based on sound. Player shake the igloos and try to hear how many little glass beads are in it, from 2 to 13. There are nine card surrounding the igloo village. If a player thinks the number of beads in the igloo matches one of the cards, that player claims the igloo with one of their chips and places it on that card. Other players put igloos on the cards, too. If the guess is correct, that player receives the card (worth points) as a reward and, sometimes, other players chips if the other player was incorrect. If the guess is incorrect, that player loses the chip used to mark the igloo. The game is finished when one player has no chips left, or when all of the cards have been claimed!

Hearing how many is actually really tough. The sound and vibration for each is different, but, at least for me, it’s hard to differentiate between 6, 7, 8 and 9. Paying attention to what you hear and doing it quickly makes this game stand out. Playing it too many times in a row, however, gives you a headache. Our family enjoys it a lot, but I haven’t tried playing it with a group of only adults. It seems to be one of those games that begs you to play with kids, otherwise you might feel a little silly.

I think it’s definitely worth the $10 it’s selling for now. It’s a fun little game.

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