International Cat Day on August 8th is the purrrrfect excuse to play some fun feline inspired games. Historically it was created to raise money for welfare charities but it has expanded to be a celebration of all things cat related. And luckily, there are quite a few designers out there who love creating kitty based games. Not surprising really given that there are an estimated 500m pet cats sitting in judgment of their humans around the world! So here are 5 suggestions that hopefully will leave you and your four pawed friends thinking they are the cat’s whiskers.
My Little Scythe
Not an obvious starter for ten but My Little Scythe is kitted out with some cool cats indeed. Stonemaier games’ family adaptation of Scythe, there are a host of kingdoms competing for trophies in the 300-year-old Harvest Tournament including the Wild Tigers. Inspired by Jamey Stegmaier’s cats, Biddy and Walter, the Tigers seek to leverage their expert marksmanship in the pie throwing contests that occur in the game. Mixing pick up and deliver, action selection, area majority, combat, and resource management, it’s lovely. With a focus on rewarding friendship and easy to understand rules, everyone can jump straight in. And for those who want even more Harvest fun, there’s an expansion ‘Pie in the Sky’ which introduces a cool 3D airship into mix as well as two more uber-cute factions to vie against the big tabbies!
Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
These cute cats go everywhere with us. And with the game being so simple but such fun, it’s impossible to refuse a round or 10. In Taco, everyone takes it in turn to chant a word from the order: Taco, Cat, Gat, Cheese, Pizza. As you say your word, you lay a card from your hand onto the discard pile. If the word and picture match, it’s a race to be first (or at least not last) to place your hand on the pile. Fail and all the cards will be yours. But don’t be too hasty because pre-empting or mismatching will earn you the pile too!
With some special action cards in the mix, you’ll need to do something specific before dashing to dive on the pile. And if you get them wrong, or you’re last, yet again those cards are yours! With different editions, there’s also a Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza out there for everyone!
Calico
Claws out! Don’t be fooled by this beautiful abstract, tile laying, strategic spatial puzzle This game has a sharp side with hate drafting tiles sabotaging your opponents’ quilts and point scoring objectives. But it can be an altogether more relaxed affair with your own quilt creation at the forefront of your mind.
The kittens in this game represent scoring opportunities. Place their preferred patterned tiles in the specified arrangements and the cats will lower their standards enough to sleep on your offering. There are also pretty buttons to collect for grouping 3 patches of the same colour together. And you can play either solo or at higher player counts.
Calico is a superb game that exemplifies Freud’s opinion that “Time spent with cats is never wasted”.
Isle of cats Explore and Draw
Isle of Cats Explore and Draw is a superb reworking of an already fabulous game. It’s simply a smaller flip and write version of the OG that’s faster, cheaper, and a bit more portable!
Isle of Cats is a clever polyomino tile placement optimisation puzzle. In the Explore and Draw version, the close card drafting is dropped in favour of a communal face-up tableau of cats, goals, and jewel cards. But which row/column of cards you can select to use is restricted and the goals you can use to boost end game points must be carefully curated as they are limited. But the process of drawing polyomino shapes on your drywipe boat board is intended to achieve the same goal: a ship full of colourful cat families
Cat Days
Cat Days is pretty perfect for this list. A light card game for two about cats which has been created by Farplace Animal Rescue! No complicated rules here to get catty about either. In this game, you and your opponent are trying to create your own week filled with kitties. Every cat card you lay has a value and an action which affects the game play. There are also some special cards which mix things up even more. Sometimes you’ll be swapping cats about in your own week. At other times, you’ll be messing with your opponent’s line up. Lasting anywhere from a few minutes to 10/15, this is a sweet, fast playing filler that is part of a sweet trilogy including Dino Days and Woof Days.
So there we have some cat-tastic games to help honour your favourite felines on International Cat Day (and every other day if they have their way…….which they usually do!).
