Boop

Let’s start with all the cards on the table. Boop was easily my most anticipated game of 2022. I had the pleasure of getting to play an advance pre-production copy once or twice at different conventions throughout the year and finally got my paws on the final release at PAX U. I was SO excited. I’m still excited. I’m fairly certain I’ll be excited about it for a long time to come.  

The goal of Boop is to create a simple line of three cats on the bed (board). Simple. Simple as herding cats, almost literally. At the start of the game, each player has 8 kitten meeples and zero cats. When you place a kitten on the board, any kittens on surrounding squares get booped back one space back in the appropriate direction. *BOOP*. Sometimes that means they booped right off the bed. *BOOP*. Sometimes there’s another kitten behind the one that would get booped, so they stay where they are. Sorry, no BOOP. If, after any boops happen, you have three kittens in a row they get removed from the board. Those kittens have graduated into being fully grown adult cats. Set those kittens aside, and replace them with three cat meeple. 

Cats work almost exactly like kittens. The biggest difference is that cats are just bigger. So, when you place a cat, it boops any other cats or kittens surrounding it, but a kitten can’t boop a cat. It’s science, as proven by my personal examination of hours upon hours of internet cat videos over the years. Go ahead, look for yourself and I’ll wait. Actually no, finish this review then go look. We all know how looking at cat videos goes down. But if you can find a video or gif proving this immutable fact wrong, leave it in the comments of one of our social media posts about Boop. (Because, algorithms.)

Anyway moving on from distractions and pandering. Back to Boop. Where was I? Right, kittens can’t Boop a cat.

It’s unlikely you’ll find yourself able to win with only three cats. That means graduating more kittens into cats. You can do that as before, getting three kittens in a row, but you may also find yourself A mixed line of cats and kittens together. When this happens, all three are still removed from the board, and the kitten or kittens become cats. Less common, but still possible, Could be that you have all your pieces on the board, in which case you would remove a single kitten from the board and graduate it to be placed again on your next turn.

Eventually, through wit and wonder three cats end up in a line, Then you play again because just like cat videos you just can’t get enough Boop.

The cat and kitten meeple are nothing short of adorable. Oranges and greys. Boop is inevitably going to sell out, and next year I hope the reprint comes with different coloured cats and a different quilt. Quilt? Yes, quilt. I mentioned that the board is a bed, right? Well, a bed needs a quilt. So you open the box, take out the cats, flip the box over and put an actual fabric quilt on it the make the bed/board. The art on the sides of the bottom box is a bedskirt! It’s brilliant! It’s also my only complaint with the final product. I’m fairly certain that the prototype I played on in the past (and it’s important to remember it was a prototype) was made from a different fabric. The quilt that comes with the final edition is made from cheap polyester. This keeps the price point lower, which is SUPER important, but it’s frustratingly slippery. The slightest bump can make it shift, and since it’s stuffed like a quilt it’s easy for the meeple to fall over. I recommend grabbing a piece of cupboard liner, a handkerchief, or even a napkin. Just any non-slippery barrier to help keep the quilt in place. If you’re not a stickler about the adorable cats peaking out from under the bedskirt being upside-down you actually can keep the box right side up, since the insert keeps the board stable just below the edge of the box. (That’s far from a perfect answer as the quilt gets softer. I might even have one of my quilting family whip me up something fun. At the end of the day, just the fact that you’re playing the game on a quilted board is amazing. 

I can’t say this enough, I want more Boop. “Dave, want a game of Boop?” Yes, yes I do. So do you, even if you don’t know it yet.  

You can find more about Smirk & Dagger Games online at www.smirkanddagger.com or on their Facebook page facebook.com/SmirkDagger-310592125355.