Stats:
No. of players: 2-5
Amount of time to play: 20 minutes
Age requirements: 8+
Set-up time:  5 min

Description of Quicksand Rules:

In Quicksand, you control an explorer trying to discover a hidden temple. By playing cards you move your explorer and other players’ explorers toward the goal. The catch is that no one knows who is controlling which explorer besides their own. The first player to get his or her explorer to the temple wins the game.

First you are given a player token, keep it secret! This is the explorer you will play during the game. Each player also starts with a hand of six cards. Cards come in six colors, a wild suit and a quicksand card. On your turn you play any number of the same colored card (plus any number of wild cards) and move the pawn of the color you played that many spaces. The board is marked with arrows showing you which direction you may move a pawn. The only other rule about moving is that you cannot land on another pawn. After moving the pawn you refill your hand to five cards from the draw deck. Playing quicksand cards allows you to flip one pawn over per quicksand card played. When moving a pawn that has been stuck in quicksand (flipped over) it costs one card to get them out of the quicksand (flip the pawn right-side up) and then they move from there.

There are a few quicksand spaces on the board as well as some colored spaces on the board. Quicksand spaces on the board act the exact same way as the quicksand cards. The colored spaces allow you to discard one extra card if you land the same colored explorer on his/her colored space. This can help you get rid of cards you don’t want. Placing any colored pawn on a wild space allows you to discard a card.

You will be moving your pawn as well as other players. If you move your pawn too much everyone will know who you are and you’ll be in quicksand a lot. Play continues until someone gets to the temple.

A Quick Review of Quicksand:

Quicksand is a fun, light game. It is easy to learn and plays pretty quick. I have played this with my six-year-old niece and it is a great game to play with kids. There is some bluffing as you try to hide which explorer you are and some of the fun of this game is seeing who was which explorer.

The cons of this game are that it is fairly random and repeated plays are too similar. There is not a lot of strategy, as you’ll have to play the hand you’re dealt.

Still this is a good gateway game for many ages that is enjoyable in limited consumption. It introduces some new flair to typical roll and move games, but not so much that the game play is unfamiliar.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 2 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 3 out of 6
Complexity 2 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 3 out of 6