I recently bought the board game Penguin Peril and having played it I can happily say it’s loads of fun. The game works by having two to four players smack plastic blocks that act as ice with plastic ice picks. The aim being to destroy the “ice” without the penguin falling down the hole, it’s simple in design but the excitement builds when you realise there’re only a few blocks holding the whole board up.

The board is built out of a plastic frame with blue and white blocks slotted against each other to create a destructible table. This table is the penguin’s habitat which the player has to destroy bit by bit. This is done both by luck and skill as a spinner will dictate what colour block you destroy, whether you miss a go or get your own choice of block colour. Once the spinner has given a result you chose which block to smack out of the little table which weakens the structural integrity of the board as a whole and when it breaks the penguin drops and a loser is found.

As for the blocks themselves, the game comes with an equal number of blue and white and there will always be a few spare ones after your board is constructed, this allows for freedom and varied gameplay keeping things interesting and changing how difficult a play session is. This also ruins the idea that this is a kids game as it takes a bit of effort to shove the board together, taking me a few minutes to set up each time so I think kids might give up when trying to do this or get bored when watching someone else do it.

So, a fun game for anyone to play but annoying to set up. It’s the joy of something basic but it’s based on physics and construction which makes it something to mindlessly whack at or give a bit more thought to. It also leaves you with an opportunity to just chat as it’s so calm and pleasant so great for any meet up. I really can recommend this one if you’ve got someone to play with and time on your hands.