Cat-tastic Games: Tips for Feline-Themed Board Games

It’s freezing outside. Not even a dog would want to go out… it’s the perfect time of year to stay tucked away at home and pull out a board game. But watch out for your pets. If, besides your love for cats, you also share your home with one, two, or more of these little creatures, you’re in for some fun. I don’t know about yours, but my cats love board games.

Whenever there are lots of components spread out on the table, from tokens to miniatures, cards, and dice, and at least one chair is empty – it won’t stay vacant for long. A cat will immediately seize the opportunity to try and swipe one of those trinkets for their own dark purposes.

Well, as a conscious cat-lover, something happened to me – I’ve accumulated a bunch of cat-themed board games! I recently thought about them and realized there’s quite a collection. Do you enjoy cat games too? Do you know them all, or none of them? Let’s take a closer look.

I’m not entirely sure anymore, but I think the very first cat game for me was Exploding Kittens – who among gamers doesn't know them? A fast, snappy, and fun party card game with a simple system: you play as many cards as you want, then draw a card and face the harsh truth – either you survive and the next player goes, or you explode with an Exploding Kitten. If you don’t have a defuse card in your hand, that was the fatal kitty that made you lose the round. You can spice up the base game with various expansions from Streaking to Imploding Kittens; there’s also an NSFW edition and Zombie Kittens. It’s up to you which kittens you prefer.

Currently available cat games

A cute little title is Cat Lady, where players score points for how many cats they manage to feed using food cards – but beware, these cats are picky eaters and are only considered fed if you collect the right combination of delicacies. Besides cats, catnip, toys, or costumes can also shift the final score. And watch out, unfed cats mean negative points. The game is simple – cards are laid out in rows and columns according to the rules, and by moving the cat figure, you pick up either the row or column of cards where you placed the cat. The game ends when the deck runs out. Unfortunately, this game is no longer available, but if you managed to snag it in the past, you can get the expansion, which is still available – Cat Lady: Kittens (a small addition that adds kitten cards, which adult cats can share resources with and pass on their life wisdom.)

Cats really love to eat, as evidenced by the game Cat Cafe, where cats step in for their napping owners running fish stalls at a Korean market – what could possibly go wrong? Cats love their owners, but they love fish even more. The goal is to collect fish cards and sets, and most importantly – you need to collect as many paws as possible, because the sixth one means victory. And you definitely want those knitted paw covers.

But be careful, cats aren't just cute, and sometimes they are interested in things other than food. Cats can even conquer space, as you can see in the game MLEM: Space Agency. In MLEM, you become the commander of a space expedition. Your cat astronaut wants to get as far as possible into deep space by rolling dice. After all, cats have truly taken over Earth and now want to conquer the entire universe! The game is beautifully crafted – a detailed neoprene mat, plenty of tokens, and great graphics – every cat-lover should have this game at home. Plus, you can encounter a UFO along the way, and not everyone can say they’ve had an encounter of that kind. Victory is calculated in points, and it’s up to you which targets you focus on, and then it depends on Lady Luck and how well you roll the dice.

If you don’t want to rely just on luck and feel like working your brain cells, try the game Meow!, which is the real deal for anyone who likes chess or checkers and cats. A two-player game where you gradually place your kitten figures on the board, which is a bed. When you manage to form a row of three kittens, they are replaced by an adult cat from the supply, and the goal is to assemble a row of three adult cats. The problem is that kittens are restless – every time you place one, it pushes the already placed kittens, potentially knocking them off the bed.

My personal favorite is The Isle of Cats, which is also an older title and currently unavailable on the market, but if you happen to find it or at least get to play it, go for it. It’s a competitive game where the goal is to rescue as many cats of different color families as possible from the island using cards and baskets to earn points. In addition, there are private or public lessons that can shake up the victory at the end. In practice, this means everyone has their own ship deck where they place the rescued cat tiles – it’s like cat Tetris. The game also has a solo variant and a simpler family version (though experienced players might not find it as exciting). There are expansions that allow up to 6 players to play instead of the base 4, adding new cat tiles or objective cards. A duel variant has also been released, so there are more than enough ways to save the ancient cat races.

And as a final bonus, I’ll mention an expansion for my favorite Everdell. In Newleaf, cats actually enter the game as worker figures that players send out to perform actions. This expansion isn't just about them, as it introduces new mechanics like tickets and train stations, but as a proper cat lady, it made me very happy.

So, all in all, we love cat games! And if you know of a cat game I haven't mentioned, let me know. The more cat games, the better. Meow to that!

author Jana Mrkvicová