Boardgame Bulletin 23-28 – Good Grognard family Christmas kitty conniptions from boop. (Smirk & Dagger Games, 2022)

Mrs. RockyMountainNavy supports tolerates my wargaming hobby, in part because she knows I am always on the lookout for good family boardgames. Every holiday season I also go looking for a good children’s or family boardgame for her students because she believes, like I do, that boardgames are good for building not only thinking but also socializing skills in youngsters and make excellent gifts. This year my holiday gift selection, boop. from Smirk & Dagger Games (2022), be-bopped its way into her heart going beyond being a simple good choice for her students.¹

Bopping quest

My quest for boop. actually started when I went looking for a present for my youngest son’s girlfriend. They are both away at the same college and in serious engineering majors. I wanted to give her a small present that represents something Mrs. RMN and I believe in and want to share. RMN Jr. took Quarto (Gigamic, 1991) to school and sometimes mentions he plays against his girlfriend. So I set off in search of a small, quick-playing, two-player strategy boardgame that both could play together. boop. seemed to fit the bill nicely.

The problem I encountered was that boop. seemed to be out of stock—with no restock before Christmas—in my area forcing me to go online (I try to support my FLGS as much as possible). I eventually sourced a supply through GameNerdz (which also has a very nice price point) but was limited to ordering only two. No problem…I only need one for RMN Jr’s GF and a single spare should be enough, right?

Right…until Mrs. RMN saw the game.

So I was off to order more because not only does Mrs. RMN want to use the game as a gift for other family members, she wants to play against me!

boop. scoop

boop. looks like a very cute game. I am personally more of a dog than cat person but even I admit the theme of cute little kittens and chonky cats is, well, cute! Smirk & Dagger calls the game “thinky” and others call it deeply strategic; both are good descriptions of the game. The important bottom line is that boop. is quick to learn, easy to teach, and calls for serious thinking while appearing (and feeling) playful. Yes, we do say “boop” when placing a kitten on the quilted bed board. You just have to because the core game mechanism is quite literally to “boop.” You also need some comic relief when playing because the serious strategic thinking demanded by play can easily build more pressure on you than expected!

A bit of some exploration of how boop. came to be using BoardGameGeek also makes the point that theme can be valuable for marketing which is a lesson some game designers (and publishers) sometimes miss. According to BGG, designer Scott Brady first brought this game to market in 2020 as a self-titled abstract game called Gekitai [“Repel” or “Push away”]. BGG stats tallies 40 owners (reporting 155 plays) with a second version (Gekitai²) adding a mere nine owners (with only 15 additional plays reported). Also shown, however, in the image gallery for the original Gekitai is a version using the name Pounce House that is the same game using a raised board that looks like a bed with cat tokens. It is easy to see the direct evolution of Pounce House to boop.² which BGG carries (as of the date of this post creation) as the 573rd ranked Family Game and 81st ranked Abstract Game in the BGG database with nearly 2,700 owners reporting nearly 12,000 plays.

Recalling that my original purpose was to find a game appropriate for Mrs. RMN’s students, the deep strategy needed in boop. had me doubting if the game was really suitable for younger gamers. I grew concerned when the box edge said the game was recommended for ages 10+. Alas, if you have younger gamers you need not worry; there is a special recommended rule for younger players that simplifies and speeds up the game without losing the core concept of “boop.”

Cheerful boop

A big shout-out to Smirk & Dagger³ for bringing boop. to market. Yeah, I’m about a year behind the Cult of the New crowd but I feel confident that boop will become an evergreen title for Smirk & Dagger. It rightfully should for boop. does what great family boardgames do best—bring happiness to the gaming family through play.

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1. Apparently the proper spelling of the game is indeed “boop.” in all lower case letters with the period at the end. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ↩︎
2. This same image appears in the image gallery for boop. further cementing the legacy connection. ↩︎
3. Or is it Smirk & Laughter? I see where Smirk & Laughter is supposed to be an imprint of Smirk & Dagger but the website is inoperable and boop. continues to be listed under the Smirk & Dagger website and store. ↩︎

Feature image courtesy RMN

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