Board Games like The Quacks of Quedlinburg
Looking for more board games like The Quacks of Quedlinburg? We’re sharing some of our top recommendations for what to play next!
The Quacks of Quedlinburg is a fun, family weight game where players will draw chips out of a bag to add to their cauldron. Players will push their luck to add as many chips to their cauldron as they can so their potion is worth more, but if they draw too many cherry bombs it will explode. During the game players are able to use what they’ve earned from their potion to purchase more chips to add to their bag, customizing their ingredients to hopefully earn more with their next brew.
The Quacks of Quedlinburg is full of lots of fun moments that make for highly memorable game nights.
To help you find your next favorite game similar to The Quacks of Quedlinburg, we’ve separated them into three categories based on the main elements of Quacks.
- Simultaneous Turns
- Push Your Luck
- Bag / Deck Building
Board Games like The Quacks of Quedlinburg
Simultaneous Turns
Just like how players will draw from their bags to fill their cauldrons at the same time, these games allow players to take their turns together. This can speed up the game and helps keep everyone’s attention focused.
Mlem: Space Agency
Take your cat astronauts (catstronauts?) to the farthest reaches of space! Each turn all players load one of their cats onto the rocket that current lead player is controlling. Mlem combines both the simultaneous turn taking of Quacks and it’s push your luck elements as players roll dice to advance into space, weighing whether to jump out of the rocket to earn fewer but guaranteed points, or push it for greater rewards and risk the rocket exploding before they can get there.
Cartographers
Cartographers has you mapping out the territory of the Kingdom. Our favorite element of this game is how players must pass their sheets to their left and right so their neighbor can draw monsters in their path. It’s a great bit of player interaction that can really set you back if you don’t draw your territory wisely. Cartographers can also be played with almost any size group!
Whirling Witchcraft
The art is top-notch in this beautiful game about rival witches brewing potions to overload their opponent’s cauldron. Each player gets a unique with’s power which can help specialize their engine and variability to each game. Games are quick which is great because you’ll definitely want to play a couple back to back.
The Guild of Merchant Explorers
An excellent route building game! Players will explore their maps, trying to build trade routes and discover as many new areas of their kingdom as possible. Much like Quacks, The Guild of Merchant Explorers has a solitaire feel where everyone is working off their own board with very light interaction between players.
Galaxy Trucker
Galaxy Trucker has player building their space ships in real time — quickly grabbing the tiles they need from the middle of the table before time runs out. You’ll try to find all the elements you think your ship will need to survive its flight — outfitting it with engines, shields, guns, and more.
Push Your Luck
In The Quacks of Quedlinburg, you’re pushing your luck to try and draw as many chips out of your bag as possible to move further down your cauldron’s track, knowing that if you pull one too many cherry bombs you’ll bust and be forced to make some sacrifices. These board games feature similar push your luck choices.
Spots
This push-your-luck dice game was our top Family Game of 2023. You’ll roll dice to fill in the spots on your dog cards, trying to complete six dogs first to win. We love how each game has variable powers (tricks), which keep each game fresh.
Clank!
Clank combines both the push your luck and bag building elements of Quacks. Players will try to get as much treasure from the dragon’s lair before it wakes up. You’ll build up a deck of cards to help them move quickly and quietly to get their treasure and make it out alive.
Port Royale
No theme is more perfect for push your luck games than a Pirate theme! You’ll need to take risks to gain gold, hire crew members, and extend your influence to go on expeditions! Great for families — we’ve played with our children as young as 7.
See this list for even more push your luck games)
Bag Building / Deck Building
In The Quacks of Quedlinburg, all players begin with the same ingredients in their bag. Then as the game progresses, everyone is able to purchase new ingredients to add to their bag — taking into consideration each chips power and actions so as to create a custom bag that suits their strategy. These games all involve that same challenge.
First in Flight
Set in the early days of aviation, you’re attempting to build your flight deck with the best cards while moving around a track to select and take your actions. When its time to fly, you’ll flip cards out of your deck to see how far your plane goes. flip too many cards and you might crash!
Orleans
One of our very favorite games. It’s perfection. You’re building a bag full of followers that you’ll draw out to take actions, use abilities, and expand your mercantile expeditions. There’s so much to manage but Orleans is a breeze to pick up and a joy to play!
Living Forest
I love how Living Forest combines multiple of our favorite mechanics. It has a little bit of deck building, push your luck, racing to the end, tile placement! A delightful buffet that works beautifully.
The Quest for El Dorado
One of our all time favorite games! In the Quest for Eldorado you’ll be racing to get your explorers to Eldorado first! You’ll draft cards that help you do this, equipping your explorers with the tools and guides they need to get you to your destination.
Quacks for Kids & Expansions
Quacks and Co: Quedlinburg Dash
One of our favorite kids games of all time, Quacks & Co perfectly distills The Quacks of Quedlinburg into a racing game where your kids will learn the concepts of bag building. Easy enough for players as young as four or five, with the ability to scale the difficulty up as they get older! Your whole family will love playing together!
The Herb Witches Expansion
This expansion is easy to learn and integrate into your base game. Adding Witches with character powers, new ingredients, and increases the player count to five.
The Alchemists Expansion
This expansion adds a laboratory where players must distill essences to help free citizens from nightmares, obsessions, and hysteria.
