Frogger (board game)

This page is about the 1981 board game by MB Games. For the 2021 board game by Ultra PRO, see Frogger: The Board Game.

For other uses, see Frogger (disambiguation).

Frogger is a tabletop board game published by MB Games (Milton Bradley), released in 1981. It is based on the video game of the same name. It is known as La Grenouille Astucieuse in France, and as Ranada in Spanish-speaking countries. The game was designed by Jeffrey Breslow, Michael Ferris and Paul Wise.

An updated version with different box art and board, and differently colored pieces was released in 1983 by the same company.

Gameplay[]

Frogger is a two-player competitive game based on the original 1981 arcade video game of the same name. Each player has their own little army of three frogs, which they must attempt to move to the swamp on the opposite side of the board. Frogs can only move either forward (up) or to the sides, but not backward (down) or diagonally.

The board is split in five main sections:

The player's side Swamp.
The player's side Highway.
The central River (comprises four combined lanes of both the player and opponent's sides).
The opponent's side Highway.
The opponent's side Swamp.

The objective of the game for each player is to attempt to move all their three frogs to their opponent's Swamp while avoiding getting squished by a car on the Highway sections or thrown into the water in the River sections. For this effect, each player counts with one Car and two Log pieces they can move to hinder their opponent frogs' movements. Movement of obstacle pieces aren't restricted to their owning player, however, and can be moved by both players depending on the dice number that was rolled. If a player's frog is stopped in their tracks by any of these obstacles, they lose that try and are penalized by returning to their Swamp to start their journey all over again.

The faces of the dice are labeled "1", "2", "3", "Turn Log" (two faces labeled this way), and "All Hop Over".

The numerals on the dice indicate how many movements the player can perform. They can freely distribute these points between moving their frogs –up to three spaces depending on the number obtained– or moving their obstacle pieces to hinder their opponent's movements.
If the dice lands on "Turn Log", the player can flip any of the four Logs on the River section, revealing a Fly perched underneath. If a player manages to land on a Log while a Fly is exposed, they earn the free chance to move their frog two more spaces.
If the dice lands on "All Hop Over", both players earn the free chance to move all their frogs two spaces. Only frogs on the field can be moved, not the ones that are still on their Swamp, nor obstacle pieces.

A normal play session takes about ten minutes. The game is suggested for ages 7 to 14.

Gallery[]

1981 version[]

1983 version[]

Related products[]

Frogger (video game) - The original video game this board game is based on.
- Frogger (jigsaw puzzle) - A jigsaw puzzle game also by Milton Bradley based on the original Frogger.

External links[]

Frogger at BoardGameGeek - Source of information and images.