Have you ever wanted to play a board game in which you play as a 2-mile-large frog living in the outer dimensions, eating land? If your answer is yes, then I would question your sanity, but for some reason, this game was made for you.
I found this game at the Board Games Expo in Birmingham. When I saw it, I mostly picked it up because the name was weird and the artwork was gloriously trippy. It took me some time to get round to playing it, but I finally got a chance to play it this weekend.
Gameplay and Design
Created by Jenna Filli, and published by Devious Weasel Games, Cosmic Frog is just like every other game you play. You play as Rayna or in real-terms a species of 2 miles tall, immortal, invulnerable frog-like species that exists to gather shards of Aerth. In simple terms, you are a giant frog that swallows land and then gathers it in space.
You select your frog, which you paint into the relevant colour (I was lucky enough to have friends who like painting miniatures), and then land onto a Shard of Aerth, which makes up the game mat. Your goal is to move around the map, swallow land into your gullet, then jump into the aether, which is the space around the game mat, where you disgorge your gullet into your vault. You make certain patterns of land in your vault to score points. A simple premise, if an absolutely mental concept.
The fun part is that part of the gameplay is designed around attacking other plays. Either on the shard, or in the aether. If you fight on the shard and win, you can force the other player to disgorge some of the land from their gullet, and you claim it from them as well as knocking them off of that tile. If you fight in the Aether, the same applies, except that instead of being knocked back you are knocked into the outer dimensions. This allows players to steal from the land you’ve locked in your vault. So, the goal is to avoid being attacked as best you can, whilst collecting land, and avoid being knocked into the outer dimension.
At the beginning of the game, you are given two ability cards and then discard one and choose one. These allow you to gain special abilities that can assist you in the game. That could be as simple as giving bonuses to attacks, or it could allow you to collect land from further away tiles. Each give a small advantage in different ways, but don’t get too attached, as you can lose these when an Aether Flux occurs, which forces you to choose another ability or pay Oomph (power ups), to keep it. These add a whole new dimension to the game, and give you a reason to play again to see more of the abilities.
The game was easy to learn, a relatively quick game; it took around 2 hours for us. It’s certainly one I’ll play again.
Theme & Components
The game iself is quite simple to explain once you remove the fluff you collect land tiles, fight other players and try to lock in patterns of land tiles to score points and win. The game itself comes with a good number zip-lock backs to store the different tokens. The cards are easy to distinguish, and quick to setup. There is a neoprene game-mat which sticks to your table easily which was great, and the miniatures are designed well. People who don’t paint miniatures, though, will be frustrated that you have to paint your own frogs, especially as they don’t provide paint for you. So you’d have to get your own. This is probably the only frustrating part of the components; every other part is good, and you are provided enough to proceed.
The setup is relatively easy. There isn’t a visual setup, which would have helped slightly, but setup probably took about 20 mins so it wasn’t too big an issue. The rules once you get a feel for the game are good. I think now that i’ve played once, the speed of the game would be much quicker with less need to refer to the manual.
Conclusion
This is a great game, quite unexpected considering I’d not heard of it before. I would recommend it to other board game players who like a fairly quick strategy game. The artwork is really good, it’s visually stimulating, it’s what caught my eye at the expo. I’m already looking forward to playing again and hopefully, this review gives you more reason to take the cosmic plunge yourself.
Editor’s Verdict: 3.5/5
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is Cosmic Frog hard to learn?
No — despite the bizarre theme, the core mechanics are quite simple. Once you understand movement, swallowing land, and scoring patterns, the game flows smoothly.
2. How long does a typical Cosmic Frog game take?
On average, around 2 hours for a first playthrough. With experience, it can be played faster as you rely less on the rulebook.
3. Do I really need to paint the frog miniatures?
You don’t have to, but the game doesn’t include paint. Unpainted frogs may make it harder to distinguish players, so many players choose to paint them for clarity and fun.
Hi, I’m Jacob. I write and edit for GameDayRoundup with a focus on football news, gaming culture and the growing world of esports. I enjoy breaking down big stories into something that feels approachable and fun to read. I’m always looking for new topics, new angles and new ways to keep our readers informed without overcomplicating anything. Writing for this site lets me share the things I follow every day and I love being part of the team.
