Frog Soup Review

The life-cycle of a plastic Christmas cracker frog is a sad one. Following a sentence of over eleven months isolation - imprisoned in a dark, flimsy cylinder - their liberation suddenly erupts with a bang as they’re flung across a carcass-strewn table. Presuming they haven’t perished at the bottom of a gravy jug, they’ll spend the next five minutes being eagerly prodded in the sacral region until their knee-jerk explosions of movement render them lost forever. Somehow, it has taken until now to reconfigure the true purpose of these sorry creatures… as novel components of a tabletop dexterity game.

Frog Soup is a simple, cooperative game for children and families, utilising oversized yet familiar plastic frogs. As a team, players will be helping their frogs escape from the bubbling threat of a witch’s cauldron by having them knock down several object standees dotted around it. At the start of each round the first player will add one of six ingredient tiles to the cauldron before having their frog perform three jumps. Objects must be toppled in the order indicated on the circle surrounding the witch. If players knock down all objects before the final ingredient is added, the frogs escape their fate.

Whilst the premise is simple, in practice Frog Soup is occasionally tricky. Frogs are unpredictable – more so than the similarly functioning discs or meeples of other dexterity games – making bad turns feel very frustrating and victory particularly satisfying. It’s worth noting that if played upon a table, the frogs will fall off – a lot. On the other hand, if played on a carpeted floor the frogs will hardly jump at all.

To conclude, Frog Soup’s core gimmick and table presence should be a fun distraction for most kids, but be prepared for some moments of frustration for both adults and younger players.

CHAD WILKINSON

PLAY IT? MAYBE

Designer: Jean Philippe Sahut

Publisher: BoardM Factory

Time: 20 minutes

Players: 1-4

Ages: 5+

Price: £30

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