Wander ice caves and find rubies amid bears & penguins

The concept of Print’ n Play games really is outstanding.

A player can buy some files usually at quite a reasonable cost – yes many PnP games are even free – save on shipping and taxes, and have the fun of printing and preparing the game for play.

However, I admit that personally I want simplicity in a PnP build.

That means a solid Roll ‘n Write where the printing is a rules sheet and an 8x10 game sheet, or a card game easily cut out and sleeved. Start adding chits and bits and custom dice and it better be something quite special for me to take it on.

Thankfully, The Ice Caves from designer Jurgen Spreutels and publisher Simployt Games is one of those card and rule set games.

Making this one even more desirable is the files are currently (as of July 23, 2025), still available for free download at boardgamegeek.com.

From the designer; “in this game, Penguins and Ice Bears meet for the very first time to hunt red Rubies, because, you know, they’ve totally never crossed paths before thanks to the whole North Pole vs South Pole thing.

“But don’t overthink it. They meet, and frankly, I have no idea how it happened either. Also, the Penguins have a bit of a thing for blowing up parts of the caves, because what’s a good game without a little destruction, right?”

So you see from that description this one is silly fun, but hey we’re talking a game that plays generally in less than 30 minutes, and can play two-to-four, so it’s one worth the effort to create.

Now, with polar bears and penguins and what might be termed a ‘cute’ theme I would have expected a bit more of that ‘cuteness’ or ‘humour’ to show up in the card art. Spreutels also does the art, and while the ice caves idea comes through in the bluish colouration, I wanted more bears and birds.

The rules print on only two pages, so The Ices Caves is one you can get to the table and teach quickly, which is always a plus.

You lay out 12 cards and then manoeuvre to find gems and get them out of the ‘caves’. It’s not particularly deep, but there’s enough fun to be had to get your printer going.