Ohio high-schoolers launch lively party game
True to its name, a new game developed by a group of Ohio high school students is definitely an ice-breaker for group fun.
Here is how the game, called Break the Ice, plays: After carefully extricating blocks of color-coded wood from a stacked tower, players then draw a corresponding card and follow its instructions.
Some examples:
h Thumb wrestle the person to the right of you.
h If you could rename yourself, what would you choose?
h 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 in Canton, 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. “It helps me forget about all the stuff that’s going on in the world.”
Break the Ice, Maag added, is “a great game to play with your family while quarantined for COVID.”
Amanda De Fays, business teacher at Glenoak, praised 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 (the Icebreakers). It’s a great pandemic product.”
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.
“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.”
A Canton-area mentoring organization bought 15 games. “They do a lot of mentoring and team activities,” Maag said, noting that the game “brings people together.”
Icebreaker team members started developing the game in 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 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 via email at Icebreakerja2021@gmail.com.
“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.