Quicksand is a real-time cooperative game that pits you and your friends against the clock to deactivate a sinister trap of gears and sand. The catch is, you can't just be fast; you have to be smart to avoid triggering the trap and losing everything! Before the madness begins, you choose one of over 20 available scenarios, set up the gear path, and place the sand timers (which have varying durations) on the first gears. Oh, and each scenario might have its own obstacles, so be ready for surprises.

Each gear has a color (orange, yellow, gray) and a shape (square, circle, crescent). Players start with three cards in hand, which can show a color, a shape, or a sand timer. As soon as the game starts, the action is frantic! On their turns, players play a card to try and advance the sand timers and prevent them from running out, refilling their hand afterward. If you play a color or shape card, you flip all sand timers currently on gears of that color/shape, moving them one space forward if the next space is empty. A sand timer card allows you to flip any one timer and advance it, if possible. If no timers are on gears matching the played card, nothing happens. But beware: if a sand timer runs out, it is flipped and placed next to the gear. A sand timer card can rescue it by flipping it and placing it back onto the gear, but only if that space is empty. If a rescued timer runs out again, the game ends for you! Victory comes when the sand timers fill the final gears on the path without any of them running out at the end. It's a challenge of coordination and quick thinking that will test your friendship!