Board Game: Cat Lady

Today, we got a new puppy.

This puppy, to be exact.

She doesn't have a name yet. We're working on that.

But yesterday, we played a game about cats!

The Game: Cat Lady
The Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group
Time: 15 minutes or so
Players: Me, Cael, Kai, Gus, Jenni

Game Play: I played this game at GenCon and then bought it. Unlike a lot of cute games, it's got some depth of play and some replay value.

Feasts most fancy, vittles most tender.

Those cubes there are food. The goal is to get victory points, and you get those by feeding cats, collecting sets of cat toys, collecting cat costumes (the cats in the costumes look pretty unhappy, it's kind of adorable), and having enough catnip to go around.

Cards are laid out in a 9x9 grid, and on your turn you take a row or a column. There's a cat figurine that's next to one row or column, and you can't take that one (the cat is in the way, as cats often are), but if you have a spray bottle you can shoo the cat away. Once you take a set, you replace it from the deck and the cat moves there.

Mow.

You can also get dealt lost cat cards, and can trade them in for stray cats (that's them at the bottom of the picture; there's only ever three in a game) or victory points. Play continues until the deck of cards runs out.

This game was basically made for Gus.

Opinions: Like I said, for a cute game it's got some replay value. The strategy comes in what cats you pick up versus what food you get (you don't get points for cats you don't feed), and what lines you pick up and thus prevent other players from grabbing. It's hard to plan too far ahead, especially in a four-player game, but you can generally at least note what the people going after you need and try to prevent it. That said, in a four-player game the turns move pretty fast, and you have to be careful you don't wind up with a bunch of cats that won't eat chicken and a bunch of red cubes (which are chicken). Leftover food costs you points.

Keep? Yes.