A couple days ago I, like so many other games journalists, put out my games of the decade list. And I stand by my choices. But I knew that trying to boil down ten years and countless great games into a rigid list of ten picks would inevitably lead to some hard choices. I was surprised by how long it actually took me to regret some omissions. Of course the perfect puzzle game Threes is one of the best games of the 2010s! They way it was shamelessly ripped off by 2048 was one of the decade’s biggest gaming crimes!
However, there’s one game I failed to mention that absolutely deserves its own shout out. Frog Fractions was the true game of the decade.
So why did I forget Twinbeard’s artistic masterpiece of amphibian arithmetic? Well considering it was released earlier in the decade, in late 2012, I blame recency bias. But more than that, actually talking about Frog Fractions kind of ruins Frog Fractions. I’m the last person to care about spoilers, but unraveling the secret you didn’t even know was in front of you is what makes this game so mind-blowing.
Frog Fractions hit during my junior year of college, so I had already cemented myself somewhat as a video game connoisseur, knowledgeable not just of huge AAA release but weird indie game stuff, too. And as far as introducing folks to weird indie video games, none are better than Frog Fractions. It’s like I took the game on tour from dorms to off-campus parties to frat houses. Every time I would sit some unsuspecting mark in front of the free web browser game, give them no context beyond “you need to play this,” and watch it dawn on their grinning faces that this game claiming to be about eating flies and counting numbers was anything but. Players get an education, but not in math.
It was so wild to watch a game become viral not just online but also in an actual real-life community. I saw so many people who don’t care at all about video games fall under Frog Fractions’ spell. Was it somewhat fleeting? Yeah. Once you’ve seen it you get it. But you almost get even more watching other people see it for the first time. So how can you really quantify the amount of joy you get from this game?
The way Twinbeard went about making a sequel was even more beautiful and hilarious. After raising enough money on Kickstarter, we learned that Frog Fractions 2 would appear, without warning, in some otherwise unrelated game. So for years die-hards like me were on the hunt, noticing strange shared symbols cropping up in indie games, participating in an ARG that somehow wasn’t insufferable. The jig was eventually up. But even now I’m reluctant to tell you what game Frog Fractions 2 actually is on the off chance you’ll accidentally stumble across it yourself. Frog Fractions is the real mystery box. JJ Abrams can go to Hell.
So if you’re totally ignorant of what Frog Fractions even is, I envy you. You’re in for a treat. Just try to experience it before it’s truly gone forever like all other Flash art. Sorry for forgetting you, Frog Fractions. You’re the real game of the decade.
P.S. Once you’ve played Frog Fractions, you can finally make sense of perhaps my proudest tweet.
Serenity is Frog Fractions 3
— Jordan Minor (@JordanWMinor) February 4, 2019
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