Dan Kane
| The Repository
True to its name, the new and locally produced game called Break the Ice is definitely an ice-breaker for group fun.
Here's how it plays: After carefully extricating blocks of color-coded wood from a stacked tower, players then draw a corresponding card and follow its instructions.
Ice Breaker is a 243 ways to win slot that pays out when symbols are on adjacent reels rather than on a payline. All wins read left to right from reel 1 and any wins are paid in multipliers - this slot will even calculate your wins according to the stakes you play. Most people have fond memories of scavenger hunts from their childhood. Ice Breaker is a slot machine by Push Gaming.According to the number of players searching for it, Ice Breaker is not a very popular slot. Still, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad, so give it a try and see for yourself, or browse popular casino games. Gather your peeps, spark new connections, and have fun together – no matter where you are.
Some examples:
• Thumb wrestle the person to the right of you.
• If you could rename yourself, what would you choose?
• Do five pushups.
The game proceeds until the tower collapses. (Yes, it has similarities to Jenga.)
Break the Ice, which has sold more than 100 units since its mid-December launch, is the brainchild of seven senior business students at GlenOak High School whose Junior Achievement company is called IceBreaker.
Collaborating on Break the Ice has given the team members welcome diversion during a school year overshadowed by COVID-19.
'This is not what I wanted from my senior year, but Junior Achevement has been super fun to do,' said Chris Maag, 17, CEO of IceBreaker. 'It helps me forget about all the stuff that's going on in the world.'
'It's definitely been different this year. I feel like we've adapted to (COVID) very well, made it the normal now,' said Ricky Adams Jr., sales person for IceBreaker.
'It's a great game to play with your family while quarantined for COVID,' Maag noted.
Amanda De Fays, business teacher at GlenOak, praises the dedication of this year's small-business teams at the school, especially during the pandemic.
'They're not seeing anything as a closed door. Instead, it's, ‘How can we get around it?' They're so optimistic,' De Fays said. 'Especially Chris' group (IceBreakers). It's a great pandemic product.'
Ice Breakers Slogan
• Do five pushups.
The game proceeds until the tower collapses. (Yes, it has similarities to Jenga.)
Break the Ice, which has sold more than 100 units since its mid-December launch, is the brainchild of seven senior business students at GlenOak High School whose Junior Achievement company is called IceBreaker.
Collaborating on Break the Ice has given the team members welcome diversion during a school year overshadowed by COVID-19.
'This is not what I wanted from my senior year, but Junior Achevement has been super fun to do,' said Chris Maag, 17, CEO of IceBreaker. 'It helps me forget about all the stuff that's going on in the world.'
'It's definitely been different this year. I feel like we've adapted to (COVID) very well, made it the normal now,' said Ricky Adams Jr., sales person for IceBreaker.
'It's a great game to play with your family while quarantined for COVID,' Maag noted.
Amanda De Fays, business teacher at GlenOak, praises the dedication of this year's small-business teams at the school, especially during the pandemic.
'They're not seeing anything as a closed door. Instead, it's, ‘How can we get around it?' They're so optimistic,' De Fays said. 'Especially Chris' group (IceBreakers). It's a great pandemic product.'
Ice Breakers Slogan
Other GlenOak students on the IceBreaker team are Tori Riggle (VP), Jordan Elder (marketing), J.T. Cooke (CFO), and Nick Rose and Kyle Staley (supply).
De Fays gives a personal testimonial for Break the Ice. 'My mother-in-law has Alzheimer's and (while playing the game) she was able to recall things and become interactive,' she said. 'She really got into it.'
A key element to the appeal and adaptability of Break the Ice is the 48 create-your-own cards (in addition to 48 printed cards) on which questions and tasks can be written with a provided dry-erase marker.
'My neighbor across the street home-schools his two young daughters and he uses the game for teaching,' Adams said. 'They play it all the time.'
'A lot of teachers have bought them. They can put problems on the cards, or vocabulary words for language classes,' Maag said. 'Parents can use it for kids' chores. It can be a business-meeting icebreaker.'
The local organization MentorStark bought 15 Break the Ice games. 'They do a lot of mentoring and team activities,' Maag said. The game 'brings people together.'
IceBreaker team members started developing Break the Ice last November, gave a 'Shark Tank'-style sales pitch to obtain a $600 start-up loan from Junior Achievement and had the game ready to sell two weeks before Christmas.
The IceBreaker crew assembles the games together as a team. Break the Ice is housed in a drawstring cloth bag that can be custom silkscreened. Each game costs about $10 to produce.
Break the Ice, which sells for $25, is available for purchase at The Wise Owl at 4409 Whipple Ave. NW in Jackson Township and the Lepley & Co. stores at 13 Penn Ave. SE in Massillon, and 21 Furnace St. (Northside Market) in Akron. 'We're trying to get into more stores and grow our social media,' Mag said.
The game also may be ordered via email at [email protected]Free delivery is offered within a 30-mile radius of GlenOak. The game also may be shipped for a $3.30 fee. Cash, credit cards and checks are accepted.
'For every 10 we sell, we give one to an organization in the community, like Refuge of Hope and the Domestic Violence Project,' Maag said.
Icebreaker Clothing Women
Break the Ice also is available for play at Milestone, a board-game bar in downtown Canton.
Ice Breaker slot is a colourful new game from Push Gaming. Themed on sea creatures and a frozen river, this attractive slot asks players to fish for their prizes! Combining colourful fish characters with large multipliers, players can also enjoy a free spins round, collapsing reels and an incredible 243 ways to win.
Cascading symbols mean that the symbols can land on top of each other to create higher multipliers. There are 5 reels in this slot with symbols laid out in rows of 3 for a classic set up, but once the reels start spinning, the action begins with the exciting cascading symbols. Ice Breaker invites players to fish for a top prize per spin of 25,000x your bet.
The design of Ice Breaker is simple and modern with colourful icons and a cool icy river background. During the main game the river is brightly lit by sunlight, while the free spins round sees darkness fall as the action move underwater. The symbols on the reels include the yellow fish, red fish, small purple fish, round-eyed green fish, orange tiger-stripe fish, yellow clam and wooden hammer.
The clam is the wild symbol in this game, which means it stands in for the other symbols to create more potential winning combinations. The bet level here ranges from a minimum of €0.25 for betting on all 243 ways to win, to a maximum bet of €100 per spin.
Insanely high multiplier with the collapsing reels function
The innovative collapsing reels feature in Ice Breaker slot means that whenever you spin, you have the chance of boosting your payout with huge multipliers. This is because some of the symbols in the game are special ‘iced' symbols. If you manage to spin two iced symbols together, the reel will collapse to bring the symbols on top of each other, pushing them into one joined symbol and increasing the multiplier.
Once two iced symbols have joined together, the symbols that were sitting above them now come into play. The new symbols cascade down from above, creating more chances to hit further winning combinations and higher multipliers! The collapsing reels will remind players of slots with similar gameplay, such as Gonzo's Quest, which also makes use of this feature.
Play Ice Breaker in Betsson's mobile casino
In addition to playing Ice Breaker on your desktop, you can also access this fun game in the Betsson Mobile Casino. Playing on your mobile or tablet, you can enjoy the fun wherever you are at the click of a button. The game is fully optimised for mobile play, so you can enjoy clear graphics and smooth gameplay on your mobile device, giving a superb gaming experience.
The free spins where ridiculous high winnings await
The wooden hammer is the bonus symbol in this game. If you manage to spin 3 hammer symbols anywhere on the screen, you will ‘break the ice' and trigger the free spins bonus feature. This round sees players transported underwater as the background changes from light blue to dark blue with purple glimmering lights, creating a great atmosphere.
Here you will initially be awarded 6 free spins, which are fully re-triggerable. So if you hit more hammers during your free spins even more free spins will be awarded. During this round, the low-paying symbols are all removed, leaving only the high paying ice symbols in play, making sure you get some higher payouts than in the regular base game.
Max win, return to player and volatility
The maximum win when playing Ice Breaker is 25,000 your bet with a return to player 96.79%. This game has quite a low volatility with players able to expect a win every 3.6 spins on average. This means you can expect plenty of regular, small payouts which will keep your bankroll ticking over, although the average payouts will not be as high as with some higher volatility slots.
Forget about jackpots, Ice Breaker is here!
Ice Breaker slot is a fun, fishy adventure with a chilled atmosphere and colourful design. The symbols here are all light-hearted fish characters, along with the wild clam and wooden hammer – which can break the ice to take you underwater to the higher rewards! Players who enjoy Gonzo's Quest with its own collapsing reels feature will surely love Ice Breaker, while the ice theme will also appeal to fans of other wintery slots, such as Winter Berries. The cascading symbols and the 243 ways to win ensure players can swim away with rich rewards once they break the ice!
