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Frag

A deathmatch on a board: build a fighter, grab weapons, respawn and be the first to three kills.

Frag (2001) squeezes early first-person shooters like Doom and Quake into a board game, and its tagline says it all: if it moves, shoot it. Everyone builds a character by assigning stat points, spawns on the board, then rolls dice to move, picks up weapon and gadget cards, and shoots at the others. Cheat cards let you gain an edge when your opponents least expect it. When somebody is killed, they simply respawn on their next turn, so there is no sitting out. The first player to score three kills wins, so games run about half an hour and end in a flurry. It is a light, loud dice shooter for two to six, with five or six as the sweet spot.

Assign stat points to build a characterWeapon, gadget and cheat cardsFirst to three kills wins

Who it's for

You grew up on Doom and Quake and want a quick, dice-driven deathmatch with five or six friends.

Not for you if…

You want tactical depth. Dice and card draws decide a lot, and the fun is mostly in the chaos.

Vibe's take

Loud, fast and a bit chaotic, with no downtime thanks to the respawn rule. It feels like a shooter match played with dice.

#14,776 on BGG

of over 30,000 ranked board games

Published 2001 · 25 years ago

older than 92% of games

In 3,430 collections

collected more than 45% of games

2–6 players · ages 12+

Best with 5 or 6 · publisher: 10+

about 30 min

shorter than 69% of games · typical 30–90 min

Complexity: light

Explained in 5 minutes · 1.8 out of 5 · lighter than 64%

Opinions: divided

Some love it, others really don’t

Language: lots of text

Lots of text, fluency helps

Play style: competitive

Mechanics