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Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek Hints
How do I shovel the skating pond?
1 of 9: Well, first you need to wait until someone asks you to do this.
2 of 9: When you talk to Bill Kessler, he'll say he's eager to challenge Lou to a skating contest. That's your cue. Here's a map to help you find the pond:
When you get there, click on the pond, then pick up the shovel to start the process.
3 of 9: This is a lot like the "Minesweeper" game that's included on most Windows-based computers, though a lot simpler. The basic premise is that holes in the ice are surrounded by an area of weaker ice. That weaker ice is a different color from the strong ice, and you can tell when you're getting close to a hole by the color of the ice. Here's a bit of solved pond to show you what I mean:
4 of 9: As you can see in this picture, the holes are where the orange cones are. Each hole is surrounded by a ring of medium blue ice; the rest of the ice is light blue. In places where the rings overlap, the squares are darker blue.
5 of 9: How does this help you? When you uncover a square of ice, you can tell by its color if there are any holes in the squares touching that square. If the square is light blue, all the squares touching it are safe, so you can clear them all off without worrying. If the square is medium blue, one of the squares touching it has a hole in it. Move carefully to clean off the squares until you have enough evidence to decide where the hole is.
6 of 9: When you're sure you've found a hole, put a cone on it. You can step on a hole once safely, but the second time you'll go through the ice and be sent home in disgrace, so watch your step. You only have enough cones to cover the holes without any spares, so don't place a cone till you're sure.
7 of 9: When you've placed cones on all the holes, the rest of the squares will be filled in and you're done. If you've placed all the cones and the squares don't fill in on their own, it means one of your cones is in the wrong place. Go back and examine each one till you find the problem.
8 of 9: Okay, let's get started. If you read the directions that Ollie gave you, you'll see that the bottom row is always clear of holes. So first, grab the shovel and clear off the entire bottom row, then look for darker squares. If you find three medium blue squares in the bottom row, it means the square above the middle square is a hole. Stick a cone on it, and -- ta-dah! -- you're on your way.
9 of 9: The puzzles are randomly generated, with 8, 9, 13, or 15 holes for juniors, and 22 or 29 holes for seniors. (One of the senior detective puzzles spells out the abbreviation for Nancy Drew 17, in fact.) If you don't think you can handle the higher number of holes, try saving before you look at the pond, then reloading the game and trying over until you get a number you think you can handle.
