Quagmire Review: Take BOG, Add Frogs
Transcript
Hey folks, I'm Tom Vasel.
I'm Zee Garcia. Today we're taking a look at a game uh from uh Perplex called Quagmire, a game about frogs jumping across a pond. Mhm. This is a two to four player abstract strategy game, but that is they say in the game based on their small little pack of gum card game called Bog.
That's right. Which when we played that game, we really enjoyed that. In fact, it might be my favorite of the pack of games that he's done. It's definitely top tier. It's fantastic. It packs a lot of game into a little tiny box and it's clever and cute. Now, as a open disclosure type thing, I went and told him I thought it was fantastic and I wish there was a bigger version of it. So they did it. They mentioned it me in the rule book, so maybe that's why I might like it or not. I don't know, but I Mhm. But we did try it out because we were curious A, what did they change? And B, go to four players?
[screaming]
Ah. So we tried all these things. Zee's going to show you how it plays and we'll be back. Here we're going to be taking a look at the game set up for four players with the start player sitting over here having three tiles to begin with, then three tiles four and four around the table. On your turn, you are going to do one of these actions listed on your player aid and there's one of those for each player. Uh once you are done with your action, then uh you are going to be passing on the turn to the next player. Landing on these flies here is going to net you new cards, new tiles to play with. And once these are all gone and somebody cannot take an action, then the game is going to be over and you'll figure out who has the highest score. As you are scoring points in the game, you'll be placing these tiles over here in the one, two, three, and four locations to represent that many victory points. And at the end of the game, you'll just do that addition and figure out who the winner is. So, let's go ahead and take a look at what a turn looks like here. On my turn, I can choose to do one of these things. I can play a frog is the first option, and I can either place a frog on uh I I can play one here on my shore, which is this little spot off of the lily pads.
My options being, of course, whatever I happen to be holding. So, my first action could be that, and then it goes to the next player. Next option here is moving a frog. You can move one from the shore to its first spot on the uh lily pad destination there, or onto the next one in its destination path. And so, this frog right here would be going from here to that for one action. Next action, it would go to here. And again, if that fly happens to still be there, I will draw one of these and move that fly somewhere else. Uh next would go there, and next it would go there. Okay? Now, next option here is complete a frog's route. Uh if there is one that is at the end of its path, like that one, then I can remove it from the board, and I'm going to score a number of victory points equal to the number of players at the table, in this case, four. So, I would put that right there.
Uh and then lastly, I can uh discard and score a formation. What does that mean? Well, you'll notice we'll go back to this fellow here, that some of the lily pads are highlighted in yellow, like those or those on that guy. You can discard one of these tiles from your hand to score one victory point for every frog, no matter who it belongs to, that is standing on one of those four spaces. And so, you'll you'll score one, two, three, or four victory points, and then put that token in that corresponding location. That could be your turn instead of anything else. And so that would be my first turn and this player is going to go. Maybe they'll do that. Obviously everybody's going to be playing a frog at the beginning here putting one into play then it'll come back to me. I can introduce another frog into the shore but there can only be two on the shore or I could move one.
Obviously starting to become aware very quickly of where the other players can go because if anybody can ever land on your frog like for instance let's say this guy was already there and I I did this move when it comes back around to them you'll notice they can jump to this Lily pad right here. From there they go there and if they do that then they will capture this frog and score it. They'll move the frog over to their one spot and I no longer have that frog. Now if on your turn you cannot do any action which is very possible you you have two already over here or you can make a illegal move you have nothing in your hand. Basically you cannot take an action then you are going to have to lose three victory points. If you don't have at least three you lose as much as you can and then you'll draw two frogs. You'll put one on the shore and keep the other one in hand. It's going to penalize you though heavily with those three victory points you are losing. Like I said once all of the owls are gone and someone would have to pass that they have nothing else to do then the game is going to be over we're going to score victory points we've got everybody on their own side there and whoever has the most points of course is the winner of the game.
All right it's a bigger game which I think is mostly good but I could see people wanting a small one that the packet gummy carrying your front pocket and that's useful but I also tend to like if I'm going to play a game I don't mind it being able to see it on my shelf. Packet gum games do get I have all of them in one case. It's a gimmick it's a cute gimmick it is a gimmick and unfortunately smaller games get overlooked. Yeah, on on anyone's shelves.
And I think this game looks fantastic. I think every frog is a different picture. I think so. There's a lot of artwork in it and it is it's it's cute. It's silly. It's kind of goofy and very cartoony, but it fits the game well, I think. Though to be fair, the game is an incredibly thought-provoking, slow and careful kind of game. It is not a silly game at all. No, but I I think the look it's a it's a weird thing, but I kind of like the lily pads on the board. They don't need to be there. They could have printed the lily pads on the board. But the fact that they can move a little bit It it's a little disarming this game's look. Yeah, but I like that. It It has the lily pad. I'm a big fan of of lily pad ponds. I think they're really cool.
Yeah. Um I I enjoy the look of this. Minor thing I do and this was also problem in Bug, too. Trying to figure out where things go. It's sometimes I almost wish there was a way to put a little color dot on the frogs so I can easily be like, I'm the red frogs. Especially in a four-player game. Cuz they're facing
I know they're facing you.
But they're still not like that quick.
I think
I agree with that. Um Look, when you play this game with four people, there's a lot of frogs on the board. It is not immediately discernable A, which ones are yours right away, though I I don't have that problem as much, but which way they're going to be jumping next. Not just yours. Everyone's frogs have a four-stop path. And the first stop is pretty easy. It's on that person's front row and it has a froggy printed on it. And the last one's pretty easy. It has a purple little star printed on it. It's the two in between that are tricky. I'm like, I it will happen invariably, no matter how many times you play this game, I think, especially again with four, where you're going to look and go, "Okay, he goes from there to there." Oh, no, wait. He went from here to where he is now. That's his third stop he's on not his second. Sure.
That's just visually going to be tricky. When I played the original game Bog, the number one way that I found that the game ended was by somebody not being able to move.
Right. That happens a lot. This game gets around that by you just lose three points which you could argue Three points is quite a bit. Cuz three points is a lot, but for some reason it's first of all it's not necessarily game ending thing and secondly once you play it for a while you can avoid that sequence.
Yeah. I There's other minor changes, but the two player game is almost the same. Yeah, I mean they changed quite a bit technically speaking since three by three game instead of this is a four by four game and and it's kind of like a weird shape now with two players.
With two players it's still a it's 16 minus four so it's 12 spaces.
of nine, right?
nine, but that does matter. It changes things up.
changes it up. There's just different actions, different cadences. It's just different things. Yes. Um It does kind of in some ways feel like a game transmogrified to be something it originally wasn't and I wonder it's hard for me to remove myself from that equation, but I wonder if I would think that if I didn't know this sprouted from a a little two player game. But it is kind of an awkward four player game. Yeah, so I mean on that note it is playable at four. We've done it. It's weird. I very rarely play a four player heavy abstract game. Sure, cuz there's not that many. Yeah, most of the time four player abstract games are things like Blokus and things. And I'm not arguing that those can't be heavy, right? But this one it's like playing four player chess.
And and honestly that's what it kind of feels like because when I'm playing two player I'm like, "Okay, the two spots I can be captured are there. I'm going to do this." Here with four players now there's a lot more dangerous spots in the board and it also could fall prey to I need to come up with some good technical term for this. I could always call it the kill or lucky.
you know, passing the buck kind of thing where I
Z could capture me but he knows that if he does then Camille can capture him. So he doesn't do it. And now she can capture me but she knows if she does then Z can capture her. And I'm like, "Well, I'm not going to get captured by either but I also it's So there's a little weird in a in a real game I'm like, "You capture me and then I capture you. Is that worth a trade?" We have to figure that out. But with multiple players it's a little hazier. Right. But it's also just more complicated, more stuff. The best thing about four players is the playing a card for the frogs in the grid will happen a little bit more often and more valuable. I actually think that's true. I That's one thing I do want to mention. I think that that's true also in the two player game now. Oh, in the original game I barely did it. I found that that was the weakest part of the original game by far. It was a clever idea.
But it only cared about three spots out of the nine if I'm not mistaken. Which is just fewer spots. There were fewer spots. Now it's four spots it cares for and you are more likely to leave a frog at the end of its path to then turn around and score it cuz you can tell if you're in immediate danger. Um and so I just find that aspect of the game has really, you know, elevated uh cuz cuz you know, it compared to the original game. So for that it gets a thumbs up. It's just that kind of everything else that it added I don't necessarily now having played with it think brought a whole lot to the table. That sounds like I don't like this game. I do, you'll see, but you know what I mean? Like, the two-player game in this is good, possibly better than the original.
The three and four, I suddenly realized, oh, I guess I I didn't really want that. Well, sure, and I don't know if I was asking for it. But, you know what? I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would.
Yeah. I thought when we played it with two, I was like, I'm not going to like it at four. But, I I thought it was fine.
It's a unique game, for sure. There's nothing quite like it.
but you need four people who are going to get into it, and there also needs to be a little bit of haha, you captured my frog. That's going to happen. With two, this game is a game that just keeps giving to me. Each game we played, I felt I was seeing more cool things to do.
Yeah. Making sure you get the flies at the right time. There's This game is interesting, too, because while super deep and strategic, there's some luck. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
the frog, and you're like, man, that's just not where I wanted that frog to go, but I don't hate that little bit of luck. I think it keeps it fresh. This is Here's the thing. This is kind of like a weird thing to say, because I feel like people are going to turn up their noses at this comparison or suggestion, but you've got a a kid in your life, you've got a friend in your life who loves checkers, you should show them this game. Yeah.
this game is going to blow people's minds who love checkers, cuz it kind of has some of those things, but so much more theme and cute artwork and interesting things to discover. And you're right, this game will keep giving. It will take you several plays, and you'll still see things happen and go, oh, okay, I could set up a trap this way. I can put you in a conundrum that way. It's an absolute banger for that audience, I think. Yeah, what would you rate it?
I'm going to come down a little bit below, because I still like the original one first. You cannot discount that a game the size of both of my thumbs put together makes an impact because of that. That game is amazing for what it does, but also for the form factor that the designer managed to fit it into. I give that game an eight. I'm going to come slightly down to a 7.5 on this. I like it. I think it's a fun game. Like I said, I think if you're a checkers player or somebody who likes that kind of game, I think you're really going to like it. I enjoyed very much at two. But I'm docking it because it is a two to four player game and I don't really like those player counts as much. So, yeah, I like it. I think I I recommend it. I'd be happy to play this at two. 7.5 for me. Yeah, keep in mind when you hear my numbers that I have never won Quagmire.
I'm not sure I've ever won Bog. I might have won it once. I I've taught it to so many people. I I taught it also to my son. But I like this one better. I don't need it to go to four. If I was rating it based on the three to four player game, I'd probably it would be six may maybe a seven some days when I'm feeling good, but at two player it's a nine. I really like this. I think it's in my top 10 abstracts. I But it it feels different. I'm also a sucker for how pieces move being on the piece, which is I like games that have that. There's not a lot of them. I guess There's only a I can only think of a couple really, but
Onyitama and the other ones. Yeah, there's a few, but they that's a neat that's a neat thing. And this I think also has a weird hand management. And I like the strategy like the last game that you and I played, I was like, this game is going to be I'm going to not run out of frogs. I'm going to get out every time I'm going to set up those flies. I'm going to And I I was murdering Z on the floor and I lost because I got too caught up in that. Right. And I like that. It wasn't the ultimate because in Bog that was probably a better strategy. Yes, I was pacing your opponent just letting them like burn out and yes, that that probably is the way to go.
So, but I feel this is very balanced. Anyway, definitely worth checking out. I don't know a lot of people will look at this one, but I think it's a hidden gem. I think Perplex is just good in general at making some hidden stuff. Yeah. So, check it out. Yeah. There you go, folks. I'm Tom.
I'm Zee. And we're frogs. Bullfrogs. Yeah.
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