Components
- 4 Plastic Penguins
- 5 Cardboard Boxes (rooms)
- 16 Wooden Fish tokens (12 fish in 4 player colors and 4 fish in white color)
- 45 Fish cards (each showing 1, 2, or 3 victory points)
- 4 Color Reminder cards
- 4 Penguin ID cards
The Story
Object of the Game
In each round one of the players takes the role of the Hall Monitor (the Catcher) - his aim is to catch the other penguins (the Runners), who will try to collect fish hanging from the doors.
Players gain victory points for catching others or for collecting fish. When either the Catcher has caught all the Runners or any of the Runners has collected their 3 color fish, the round is over.
The game is over when every player has been the Catcher once. The player with the most victory points is declared the winner!
Setup
1 Arrange the 5 boxes by matching the same color dots on the bottom of the doorframes.
2 Put the 4 white fish tokens on the 4 marked spaces to hold the board.
3 Choose a color and take the penguin, reminder card, ID card, and 3 fish tokens of that color. Put your color reminder card and ID card on the table in front of you. Unused components are put aside.
4 Shuffle all the fish cards and put them in a face down draw pile within easy reach.
5 The player who saw a penguin most recently becomes the Catcher for the first round.
Before your first Game
Take your penguin and start on the red circle in the Classroom (box nr. 1).
Flick your penguin around the school until it's back in the Classroom again. Once you're done, let the next player get in some practice.
Flicking Techniques
If you want the penguin to move in a straight line, put your finger in front of it and make a push on the very center - it will move in a straight line.
If you want the penguin to run around corners or make crazy turns, flick it on the same side you want it to turn. So if you flick its right side it will rotate to the right.
Believe it or not, but the penguin can also jump! Flick the penguin on the very top of its head, it will make the penguin jump. Use this to jump over walls! It's a legal move and all the cool kids are doing it!
Game Play
The game consists of as many rounds as there are players (except in a 2 player game). In each round one player is the Catcher and the other players are the Runners. Each round consists of 3 phases:
Phase 1 - Round Setup
1. Each Runner attaches one of their fish tokens on each of the three doors marked with the fish symbol.
2. The Catcher places his penguin in the Kitchen (box nr. 2) anywhere within the red lined area. The placement of Runners is described below.
Phase 2 - Playing The Round
It's go time! The round is played in clockwise order starting from the player on the left of the Catcher. So in a 4 player game the sequence goes Runner - Runner - Runner - Catcher, and then repeats until the round ends.
A player's turn consists of one flick. The player on the left of the Catcher starts the round by putting his penguin on the red circle in the Classroom (box nr. ) and flicking it. Then the next player in clockwise order does the same.
The Catcher starts from the spot in the Kitchen where he placed his penguin during the Round Setup. In each next turn the player flicks the penguin from the place, where it stands at the beginning of his turn.
Note
For each Runner's first flick of the game, if he fails to move away from the red circle or the runner lands back on the red circle, he must repeat the flick until he moves his penguin away from the red circle.
Events that can happen in a player's turn:
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If the Runner completely goes through a door with a fish token of his color on it, he takes it and draws the top card from the fish card draw pile. You look at the card and put it face down partly covering your color reminder card.
Each fish card gives as many victory points as the number on the card.
It is possible to go through multiple doors and score multiple fish during your turn if your flick is good enough.
Important: Going through the door completely means that before the flick, the entire penguin is on one side of the door. Then after the flick, the entire penguin is on the other side of the door (see the 3 pictures below).
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Jumping Over Doors!
If you make a jump over a door with your color fish token on it, you do not receive the fish token. You must move through the door to receive the fish token!
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If the Catcher at any point during his turn touches one or more Runners, he takes away their ID cards.
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Also if a Runner at any point during his turn touches the Catcher, the Runner must give his ID card to the Catcher.
ID taken: If a Runner's ID card has been taken, don't worry! He is not out of the round and can still continue to play and collect fish!
Ice Skates
If you have two fish cards with value 1, you may turn them face up at the end of your turn and immediately take another turn and flick your penguin following the regular rules. You do not lose these cards and still get points for them at the end of the game!
These cards must remain face up so you don't use them again for an extra flick. If you have enough cards, you may take more than one extra turn in a row. This ability may be used by both the Catcher and the Runner.
Phase 3 - The End Of The Round
Round ends when:
- Any Runner has collected all 3 fish tokens of their color OR
- he Catcher has caught all Runners (he has all ID cards).
Now that the round has ended:
Each player, starting with the Catcher, draws 1 card from the fish card draw pile for each ID card they have. The Catcher will always get 1 fish card for his own ID card, plus an additional fish card for each ID he captured. A Runner will only get a fish card if he wasn't caught.
Players take back their ID cards and 3 fish tokens for the next round.
The player to the left of the Catcher becomes the new Catcher for the next round.
Start a new round with Phase 1 - Round Setup.
End of the Game
The game ends after as many rounds as the number of players (each player will be the Catcher once). Count the victory points from your fish cards and the player with the highest total of victory points becomes the winner! Don't forget to also count your revealed ones!
In case of a tie, the tied player with the most cards becomes the winner.
If this is also a tie, the tied players share the victory.
In the rare case you don't want to play another game of "Ice Cool", pack the boxes in the order shown below.
Rules Changes For 2 Players
There are just a few changes in the rules for 2 players:
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The Catcher has to catch the Runner twice before the round ends. When the Catcher touches the Runner for the first time, he takes away his ID card as usual. Then the Runner is moved to the Classroom and the Runner immediately takes a turn starting from the red circle like in the beginning of the game. The Catcher's turn completely ends and he cannot play two fish cards with value 1 to take an extra turn before this immediate turn of the Runner.
The round ends when either the Runner has collected all 3 fish tokens or when the Catcher has caught the Runner for the second time. However, catching the Runner for the second time doesn't give another benefit for the Catcher apart from ending the round).
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The game ends when each player has been the Catcher twice (the players alternate between the rounds for who plays the Catcher and who plays the Runner).
All other rules remain unchanged. Have fun!
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