Icicle Works came as part of a game bundle supplied with the computer when our family purchased the Commodore Plus 4 back in 1985.
Written by Doug Turner for Commodore, the game is essentially a Boulderdash clone, so any one who is familiar with that game, and the hundreds of other clones (ie Repton, Emerald Mines etc.) will feel right at home with this one - and you'll love it too. You play Father Christmas, and other than the festive graphics, the game is exactly the same.
There are 16 rooms to explore, and the aim of the game is to complete each room by constructing each of the 16 toys by collecting the presents scattered about in each room.
Simple.
As with Boulderdash, you have various obstacles to avoid - Massive snowballs dropping on your head instead of boulders, snow storms instead of amoebas, and polar bears and penguins that will kill you if you let them touch you. Of course you can use these maniacal animals to help you in your quest for presents by dropping snowballs on top of them. In fact, some of the later levels require you do to this in order to collect enough presents to construct the toy.
Quite an addictive little game 30 years ago (yes, 30 years - gosh I feel old),and it's still great fun to play now, even if it can be a little infuriating.
Here are some maps to help you play, including the door locations and where each door will take you.
AND, here are the various toys which need to be constructed in each room.
The front cover
Instructions
The tape
The box
My Mum and Dad use to play this game a lot, and this is how they recorded their progress. This piece of paper is 30 years old!
