Boop (Saturday Review)

It was like herding cats. As soon as you put one kitten down, the two nearest to it moved further away. The same when you tried to add a cat to the bundle of feline fluff. Some of the cats and kittens even decided to jump off the quilt completely. It was impossible to get everyone on there at the same time. What was cute though, was how each cat and kitten tapped their noses together and went Boop by Scott Brady from Smirk & Dagger Games with art by Curt Covert.

Your First Boop

The introduction is certainly a bit confusing. Your goal isn’t to place all of your wonderful wooden kitten and cat meeples onto the cute little quilted cushion that you have placed on top of the upturned game box. All you need to achieve is get three of your kittens to line up, which are then converted into cat meeples. If you then manage to line up three cat meeples, you win the game. However, as the introduction hints at, every time you place a cat or kitten next to other cats or kittens, be they your own or the opponent’s, they are pushed one space away, potentially falling off the game board completely and ending up back in the owner’s lap to be placed again later. Kittens can only push other kittens though, not cats – and that is quite an important strategic mechanism.

It probably still all sounds very confusing, but ultimately, Boop is a really clever 2-player strategic battle. The rules are really simple once you start to play, yet the depth of this game is huge. It will take you a while to master it. At first, you’re placing your kittens randomly on the board to see what happens. You watch as your and the other player’s wooden kitten meeples are pushed off the board. None of it quite makes sense until you finally somehow manage to get three kittens in a line. They are removed from the game and replaced with three cat meeples. Now the game is starting to sink in. However you managed to get those three kittens to line up, you now need to do the same again with your three cats, and then you win the game. Hey presto!

Boops With Depth

Yes, that’s pretty much how your first game will go. Once you’ve figured out how to line up your kittens and also stop your opponent from lining up theirs, you will be ready to do the same with your cats. Of course, cats function slightly differently, so you have to adapt your strategy accordingly.

With your first game behind you, I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t want to play again straight away. After all, Boop only takes around 20 minutes, depending on how well you both play, of course. You now have a much better idea of what you’re trying to do and how to achieve it. Yet, your opponent will be in the same situation, so your second game will play out quite differently, with more learnings on both sides.

In fact, with your second game out of the way, you both will probably want to play a third, a fourth and maybe even a fifth. Boop really is this sort of 2-player strategy game that gets you hooked very quickly.

It feels like a mix of Chess and Draughts, but with cute cat and kitten meeples and a lovely cushiony quilt game board that you place on top of the game box to quite literally elevate the gameplay experience. To be honest, if the game didn’t come with the custom kitten and cat meeple shapes made of thick wood and painted with wonderful feline faces and bodies and the cushiony quilted game board, Boop would be only half as much fun.

Booping Abstract

It’s actually the theme of cats not wanting company that makes the game so easy to learn. Sure, you could think of Boop as an abstract strategy game, but the idea that cats don’t like to cuddle up together is its core tenet. Every time you place one of your player pieces on the board, you’re most likely shunting other tokens away, possibly pushing them into other cat or kitten meeples. When you learn how to manoeuvre your tokens so that they can be pushed into a line of three kittens or cats, then you’ve learned how to win the game. So, yes, look at it as an abstract game, if you like, but I love the idea that my adding a kitten or cat to the quilt makes other kittens or cats move away. It’s what brings the game to life for me.

There isn’t really much more for me to say about Boop. It’s a really simple and very clever 2-player strategy game with cute components that will appeal to people who love this sort of thing – and I’m certainly one of those people. It all fits neatly into the box and is set up super quickly. With its playing time of around 20 minutes, it’s the ideal game you can play while you’re waiting for other people, or you can make it the main event of a romantic couple’s game night. Just don’t forget to say “Boop!” when you play.

Useful Links

• Boop: https://www.smirkanddagger.com/product-page/boop
• Rulebook: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15W8ugnaJ7ojxS_lW2I9JHgw7FG0eRpKh/view?usp=sharing
• Rules Video: https://youtu.be/HyXGt-XyaTE?si=4WwlrPKMcBJZD1Zv
• Smirk & Dagger Games: https://www.smirkanddagger.com/
• BGG listing: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/355433/boop

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