Dress warmly for a Race to the North Pole!

Unboxing

We were quite pleased with the contents. The game components fill the entire box and the quality was very good. This game has spectacular details, such as wooden game pieces and varnished glosses on the surfaces of the ice tiles. The visual look is uniform throughout and the theme suited the gameplay well. It felt like opening a box filled with an arctic breeze… and dogs barking!

Gameplay

The idea is to lead two dog sleds to the North Pole first. The rules were easy to learn and we didn’t face any major challenges. Both players took two dog sleds, which we had to move to the finish line before the other player. We started by setting up the game board from sets of ice tiles of different sizes and shapes. It was nice to notice that the game board would be different each time. During the game, even more ice tiles were added on the game board. Those had water obstacles in them that would slow down the journey. You could also try to use them to block another player’s path, but if things go wrong, it can slow down your own sled, too. One could get over those water obstacles with ladder cards, but we never needed a helicopter tile, which was meant for crossing bigger water obstacles.

The dice determine the speed of your journey (movement), but they also activate fog, blizzard, and vortex of different strengths. Those can disrupt your path dramatically, and it depends on the dice when you get to continue your journey again. When we reached the halfway point of the board, the weather tokens became a little pointless. But it must work better when there are more players in the game.

Surprisingly, the game ended quite suddenly, and only then were the colors of the opponent’s sleds revealed. That was a fun feature and gave the game a nice twist.

Thoughts on the game

What made the game interesting was that the player didn’t know whose team the other player was moving, their own or perhaps a common one. The colors of the sled teams were kept secret throughout the game. The game flowed smoothly and had enough strategic elements that we liked a lot. However, their effects may be more significant if there are more players.

If you get stuck in a storm, it is entirely up to the dice when you can continue again. Luckily in the meantime, you can secure your other sled and block other players. We wondered what would happen if the movement was shared between both of your sleds. The game definitely needs to be tested again with 3+ players, so that its competitive features can be better highlighted.

We really appreciated the way the game board was designed. The ice slabs make the game board different each time, which gives the game a longer lifespan. The pieces moved a bit on the surface of the table, but it didn’t hurt the gameplay.

All in all, a very nice gaming experience and we would recommend it for 3+ players of different ages. We will play this game again.

Arctic Race

Read more about the game here.