Cat Lady: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Drafting, Set Collection
Player Age: 8+ Player Count: 2 - 4 PlayersTime to Play: 15 - 30 Minutes
Game Designer: Josh Wood
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Josh Wood
Objective:
Over the course of the game you will become a Cat Lady. You will begin with nothing but you will draft cats, toys, costumes and of course food to feed these lovable cats.
Card Anatomy:
Cats:
Each cat card will include one or multiple colours, the points awarded if fed and the food needed for them.
In 3-4 player games, some cats will also have text that will give them special attributes or a different way to score.
Costumes:
The player with the most costumes will score 6 points at the end of the game. If you have none at the end of the game you will lose 2 points at the end of the game.
Food:
When you draft a food card you will gain the corresponding coloured cube that you will use to feed your cats. There are three types of food (meat, tuna and milk) as well as a wild food that can be used as any of the other foods. Be careful gaining food as the player with the most leftover food will lose two victory points at the end of the game.
Toys:
For each set of unique toys you will score a total of points displayed on the toy card. For example, if you have all five unique toys you will score 12 points and this scale is depicted on the toy cards.
Catnip:
Catnip will score you points for each of your fully fed cats based on the amount of catnip you have. If you have 4 catnip cards you will score two points for each fully fed cat, 2-3 catnip will score you one point for each fully fed cat and 1 catnip will lose you two points.
Lost Cats:
Two lost cats can be traded for either two victory points or it can be traded for a stray cat.
Stray Cats:
There will only be three stray cats in any game. The stray cats have unique scoring possibilities or attributes. These can work as end game scoring or a play benefit that can help the player to focus on a more specific victory path.
Set up:
- Remove 3 or 4 player cards from the deck if you are not playing at that player count.
- Shuffle the main deck and deal the cards in the middle of the table in a 3x3 grid. Place the cat token next to one of the cards in this grid.
- Shuffle the stray cat deck and reveal 3 face-up. The rest of the deck won't be needed in this game.
- The player with the most cats in real life is the first player.
How to Play:
On your turn, you take an entire row or column of three cards (unless the row/column is blocked by the cat token). Then move the cat token next to the row or column you took and redraw three new cards. This will continue until the empty spots in the row or column cannot be refilled. In that case the game will end.
Players will move their food tokens to feed all the cats they can/want to. When this is done the player with the most leftover food will lose two points.
If a player has unfed cats then those cats will score negative two points. Positive point scoring will include fed cats, costumes, toys, tokens and any unique scoring the stray cats have given that player. The player with the most points is the winner and the most respected Cat Lady.
Final Thoughts:
Pros:
- Fun drafting game.
- Easy to learn and easy to play.
- More abilities in cats as the player count increases.
- Stray cats add unique abilities and scoring to keep every game unique.
Cons:
- The blocking of the cat token doesn't feel as powerful or useful as it should.
Cat Lady is a fun family game that makes drafting simple but also gives players enough depth for some interesting decisions. At the start, you have to think about what stray cat you want if given the chance. At the same time, you also have to constantly balance what food you are drafting to make sure you have enough to feed your cats so they are positive and not negative points. Also, you don't want to prepare to feed them too much as you will lose points for that. The choices only grow with larger player counts and expansions as well. Cat Lady is a good gateway drafting game that is staying in my collection for future plays.
Click...feed the addiction:
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