Initially you have one click to start off as big a chain reaction as possible, balls of ice (including Santa's) will be triggered, and after a moment or two, explode. Any other frozen balls in the vicinity will then subsequently get triggered. This becomes more complicated as you progress through levels. Larger chunks of ice need more than one blast to release their goodies. But as the difficulty increases, so does your arsenal. You get various types of mines that detonate in many fun and exciting ways, from a simple explosion with some extra dots to hit more ice flows to acid baths and fireballs. Some can call down a rain of torpedoes to assist with your icy task.
There are three goals for most levels. The biggest is to save Santa you will lose if you don't and have to repeat the level. The other is to collect all of the coins that are in each level. The coins can be used to play the slot machine in between puzzles. You can win more gifts (you trade in the presents you pull out of the icy depths for upgrades to your firepower/luck/magnetic present grabber). Finally, you have to destroy all the items on screen and leave nothing behind.
Once you beat all 45 levels, you unlock the endless mode, which allows you to clear levels without end until you fail to save Santa.
This is a fun and festive way to waste your time. Play it for free at www.kongregate.com.