Bullfrogs

“Just as water retains no constant shape, in warfare there are no constant conditions.” –Sun Tzu

Weapons clash, water splashes and the booming battle cries of armored bullfrogs ring out across the moonlit swamp. Amphibian armies leap from lily pad to lily pad in their desperate struggle to win control of the pond.

Suddenly, a shout of triumph rises up. Enough warriors have finally entered battle on a lily pad to dominate the fight and assure victory for their side. Overloaded, the lily pad sinks into the swamp.

Frogs scatter from the sinking lily pad to the surrounding ones, coming to aid their allies or sabotage their foes, their weight causing the lily pads to drift away across the cold, glittering water. The winning commander must understand the ripple effects of every move, and avoid acting to win a single battle at the cost of losing the war.

In Bullfrogs, 2-4 players ages 8+ take control of warring factions of frogs and fight over lily pads in a pond over the course of 20-40 minutes.

A player’s turn consists of the following steps.

1. PLAY a Lily Pad Card from a hand of 3 cards to the table.

2. TAKE ACTIONS to Deploy Frogs or Bullfrogs to Lily Pad Cards or Sabotage another player’s Frogs by pushing or pulling them to adjacent cards.

3. SCORE Lily Pad Cards that have all their spaces filled by Frogs and Bullfrogs. Calculate the strength of each faction to determine the winner. The strongest faction on the Lily Pad Card scores it and it sinks to the bottom of the pond. The weaker factions scatter to adjacent Lily Pad Cards and any disconnected Lily Pad Cards on the table shift to reshape the game board.

4. DRAW a Lily Pad Card.