Bad Ice Cream 3 — Play Free Online
More Co-op for Two games
Bad Ice Cream 3 drops a scoop of ice cream into a small grid of frozen floor, walls and roaming monsters, and asks for one thing: eat every piece of fruit on the screen. There is no running and jumping here. You move one square at a time, and the puzzle is deciding which squares to change before something reaches you.
The trick is that your ice cream can breathe on the floor to build blocks of ice, and break them again. Blocks make walls, and walls are how you trap, block or box in the creatures chasing you. That makes it a different kind of two-player game from the temples on this site: instead of splitting up to press buttons, you and a friend share one maze and cover each other while the fruit disappears.
It is by Nitrome, the studio behind the whole Bad Ice Cream series, and it plays in the browser with nothing to install. A level takes a minute or two, which makes it easy to pick up between longer runs of Fireboy and Watergirl.
How to play
Player one uses the arrow keys. In two-player mode the second player uses WASD on the same keyboard; if you are playing alone, you control the ice cream with whichever set you prefer. The ice-making action is on a separate key, shown on the game's own menu screen, so glance at it before your first level.
Each level shows a set of fruit. Walk over a piece to eat it. Once the last one is gone the level is complete and you move on. Along the way, enemies patrol the floor, and touching one costs you. Fire off a line of ice in front of you to put a wall between you and them, or to shape a corridor that leads them away from the fruit.
With two players, the useful habit is division of territory. One person takes the fruit on their half of the map while the other keeps the enemies busy or walls off the awkward corner. Talk about which side you are heading for before you start moving, because two ice creams walking into the same dead end is the most common way to lose time.
Tips
- Build a wall before you need it. A block of ice placed early is safer than trying to dodge at the last moment.
- Look at the fruit layout first and plan a route that finishes near the last, most awkward piece rather than the easiest one.
- Do not trap yourself. Ice you build can block your own path, so break it again as soon as it has done its job.
- In co-op, use one player as bait. Enemies chase whoever is nearest, so the other can collect in peace.
Similar games on Fireboy and Watergirl
Bad Ice Cream and Bad Ice Cream 2 are the earlier entries in the same series and use the same grid-and-ice idea. If you want a more platform-driven two-player game, Duo Vikings and Up Together also share a keyboard, while the Fireboy and Watergirl temples swap the maze for jumping puzzles and elemental hazards.
It suits anyone who likes short, tidy puzzles, and it works well for a quick session with a friend beside you at the same keyboard.
Questions about Bad Ice Cream 3
How do you play Bad Ice Cream 3 with two players?
Both players share one keyboard. One uses the arrow keys and the other uses WASD; the ice-making key is shown on the game's start screen.
What is the goal of each level?
Eat all the fruit on the screen while avoiding the enemies. You can build and break blocks of ice to block their path.
Who made Bad Ice Cream 3?
It is a Nitrome game, part of the Bad Ice Cream series.
Does it work on a phone or Chromebook?
It runs in a modern browser, but it is designed around a keyboard, so a Chromebook works better than a phone.
