Cat Between Us

Cat Between Us is a game from a Taiwanese designer. The copy I have is a Thai version, bought when I was in Bangkok for the Thailand Board Game Show. The idea of the game is you want to get as close as possible to the cat by luring it with toys. Whoever manages to get the closest to the cat wins. However, if you are overly enthusiastic and go overboard, you will scare the cat away. I suspect this is just a pasted on theme. This is a game about brinkmanship and hand management. It is also about guessing your opponents’ intentions and trying to spoil their plans.

At the start of a round, a target number is randomly determined. Every player starts with a hand of cards, and will take turns playing cards until everyone has three cards left. These three cards are the toys you use to attract the cat. Their total value needs to be as close to the target number as possible, without exceeding it. Whoever is closest wins the round. There are six types of toys in the game. Every card in the game shows one toy and one number. The six toy types are laid out in the middle of the table. During a round when you play a card, you use its number. You play it under one of the six toy types, changing the value of that toy type. Every toy type can have only two cards played under it. The round ends when every toy type has two cards. By then the cards in your hand will be treated as toys. You ignore the numbers. The values of your toys in hand are determined by what everyone has played during the round. 

I find this very clever. You know the target, but you don’t know how the other players are going to manipulate the values of the toys. You have some control, but your opponents will influence the toy values too. Sometimes you try to stay flexible by keeping as many toy types as possible for as long as possible. You have a constant dilemma because with every card play your options dwindle and you will be more committed. Since each toy type only allows two cards, once the second card is played, the value is locked. This gives you some certainty and makes strategising easier. 

The black jack-like rule is fun. It is about brinkmanship. It is also about guessing how you might be able to push your opponents over the target. How they play cards may give you some clues as to what toys they might have in hand. If your total is low, you can win if you push everyone beyond the target. 

After you win a round, your hand size increases for the next round. At first this sounds like a good thing, because you’d have more flexibility. However having a larger hand size means you have more toys left in hand when a round ends. That means it’s harder to keep your total low. That’s another interesting twist.