Cat sudoku: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Roll and Write, Sudoku
Player Age: 8+Player Count: 2 - 6 PlayersTime to Play: 15 -20 Minutes
Game Designer: Ta-Te Wu
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Ta-Te Wu
Rundown:
Sudoku is a brain training tool to pass the time while waiting for an appointment or when on a road trip and now it can be enjoyed in the furry feline form. Cat Sudoku has done something unique and brought sudoku into board game form using a favoured mechanism of roll and write. Each sheet has a crossword-inspired design to it which are the sudoku rows and columns.
Each row and column should only have numbers from 1-6 occurring once throughout, otherwise the players will lose 2 points per duplicate at the end of the game. Not all rows and columns are created equal though as some are only a few squares long, this is where you can lose points in a secondary way. If any duplicate number touches diagonally you can lose points as well.
Every turn four dice are rolled and the wild number is declared using a designated space above the main sheet. There is a limit on how often each number can be made wild and sometimes it will take two dice of the same number to be used as one wild dice. Once every player has a full sheet the players start scoring at 100 points and then deduct points based on mistakes. Whoever has lost the fewest points is the winner.
Alteration:
The alteration from this game comes in the form of different sheets. There are four sheets of varying difficulty. The easiest sheet is spring, followed by both summer and autumn in the mid-level difficulty and winter is in the hardest difficulty, containing a defined 3 and a 6 on the sheet between rows and columns to block these numbers being used here.
Production:
The production is exactly what is needed for a small roll-and-write game; paper sheets for the different difficulty levels and common dice. The first thing I did after I played the game was laminate the sheets as I prefer to use erasable markers to save paper.
Interaction:
The interaction comes mainly from the mistakes on your paper as each row and each column cannot have the same number twice. To make this harder each number cannot be directly connected to an identical number diagonally. This sounds easy at first but the more relaxed and careless with the numbers you fill in, the smaller the options for each number become, and before you know it you are making mistakes left and right and creating a bundle of negative points.
The interaction in this game is mainly self-improvement, however, each time it is your turn you can choose which dice is wild as long as it has not already been marked off. This should allow you to make easier decisions or mess up opponents.
Determination:
- Wonky rule about players having more or fewer numbers filled on the sheet.
- No rules in the rulebook clarifying the 6 and the 3 on the winter sheet, however, it has been clarified on BGG by the designer.
- More thought provoking than originally appears.
- Real accomplishment when you score in the 90's as that means you had very few mistakes.
- Underused mechanic in Sudoku.
When reading the rules I was unsure if I would like this game as it appeared to be too easy. Once played, I found myself to be completely wrong as I was constantly faced with challenges that past turns left me to now resolve or blunder through further. There are some wonky rules based on players completing their sheets at the same time but if you enjoy roll and writes, cute kitties and also love playing sudoku then this is a game that you should pick up. It is fun, challenging, quick and will keep you playing numerous times in succession just to try to beat your previous scores.
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