Looking for a fun, cute, challenging game that will encourage you to work together with your team? Check out Rescue Polar Bears: Data & Temperature.
Rescue Polar Bears is a 1-4 player cooperative game designed by Jog Kung and Huang Yi Ming. Originally published in Taiwan by TwoPlus Games, Rescue Polar Bears has been published in the United States in a limited number by Mayday Games via Kickstarter.
Normally I wouldn’t review a game that may prove difficult to obtain, but I really think this one is worthy of discussion.
Rescue Polar Bears: $60.00
Get yours for less at Miniature Market
Recent years have seen a continued rise in temperatures around the globe. In th arctic, the last of the world’s icebergs are melting and polar bears are facing the risk of extinction.
In Rescue Polar Bears, players are members of an international scientific organization. Their goal is to collect data about climate change to inform and persuade governments to take action to save the world. At the same time, they also seek to prevent polar bears from sinking into the arctic waters. Each player commands a science and rescue ship on the Arctic Ocean. As long as the players collectively gather enough data, they win together. However, if too many polar bears sink into the water, everyone loses.
Contents:
1 Board
45 Polar Bears
43 Tiles
5 Rescue Ships
5 Player Ship Boards
1 Twenty-sided Die
1 Six-sided Die
1 Wooden Flag
65 Cards
72 Tokens
1 RulebookAges: 10+
Players: 1-4
Game Length: 30-60 minutes
Rescue Polar Bears: Win The Game!
In Rescue Polar Bears you are researchers trying to tell the government about the dangers of climate change. In order to achieve this, you and your colleagues must collect valuable climate data. During your mission to gather precious data you also have to save the polar bears from drowning due to shrinking glaciers. As you play the temperature will rise and the many icebergs will melt causing the polar bears to flee to adjacent tiles.
If there is not enough room for them to fit, they will fall into the water. You have a limited number of rescue helicopters that can save drowning the polar bears, but if they are all used up and a bear cannot be rescued you will lose. Another way you can lose is by having the temperature over 20 degrees after ice melting.
You all win if you manage to collect all the required data (20 in a 3-4 player game and 15 in a 1-2 player game). As is the case with most cooperative games this one can be tough and unforgiving. But that doesn’t take away from the fun gameplay at all.
Rescue Polar Bears features several different ships you can command with asymmetrical abilities. The players will all have to work together and utilize their various abilities in order to win and save the polar bears. Each player has access to the same basic abilities, however, you can sail around to different spots. You can load data or even polar bears in order to save them from melting icebergs.
You can also unload those bears onto your base tiles therefore no longer having to worry about those particular bear drowning. You can also break the ice in order to lower the temperature by making more ice hit the water, the trade-off of that action is limiting dry land for the bears to rest on.
So take care with icebreaking as that can cause an early loss if overused.
Each ship in Rescue Polar Bears has a speed value and capacity for bears it can carry. They also have a different power as well as upgrades that are available. Once you learn how to exploit each ships’ strengths and weaknesses, you will be able to strategize and coordinate with your teammates to victory.
I really enjoyed this game, despite its extreme difficulty. The gameplay is fun, challenging, and you end up really having to work together to make a win happen. The component quality is fantastic the resin polar bears are adorable and have a nice heft to them. The ships are made of thick cardboard and you assemble them by folding them into shape. All the tiles and chits are thick and sturdy and the game board looks very good.
The box cover is very cute and one of the best I’ve seen for a game and it conveys the theme quite well.
One thing I will say is the game brings to light a very real problem with our environment. It may be depressing but it’s a very real and serious problem. Polar bears are facing extinction and this game puts that in the spotlight.
If you have an opportunity to pick this one up I highly recommend you do so. It’s definitely not gonna be a very easy game to find in the wild, unfortunately. But if you do, then you won’t regret it.
