Don't Break the Ice

Tap out the ice, save the polar bear. Don't Break the Ice, a Hasbro classic from 1968, puts a polar bear on a square of ice made from small plastic blocks in a frame. You take turns knocking out one ice block with a little hammer, and whoever knocks out the one that makes the central square fall, bear included, loses. Think about which block is holding things up. It works for toddlers from age three, though adults tend to wince just as much. Two to four players, about twenty minutes, with no reading and no strategy beyond a steady hand.