Fat Cats

Tricks win treats. The cats are not grateful.

A small-box trick-taking game about cats extracting food from humans by the only methods available to them: strutting, pouncing, and sitting somewhere inconvenient until something happens. The illustration does a lot of the work here - these are recognisably real cats doing recognisably real things, which is funnier than any amount of cartoon mischief.

Nine trick cards each, two rounds, and every trick and treat card carries a points value. You play a trick to try to take the treat on offer, and the tension is entirely in deciding which of your nine you are prepared to spend now rather than save. Fifteen minutes, rules explained in about ninety seconds, and it works as well with two as with five, which is unusual for the genre.

Perfect for: Anyone who has lost a staring contest with their own cat and paid up.

2-5 players | 15 minutes | Age 6+

—

📖 New to the style? A Short History Of Trick-Taking Games - where the genre came from and what makes one work.