Cool Cats is a play and print drafting game played over several rounds to complete as many number combinations as possible on your card. Everyone has an identical card, and the strategy comes from choosing which cards to draft on your turn to fill in numbers or forcing others to take cards that count against them.
The game ends when a player has taken three cards they can't use or five rounds of drafting. Once the round ends when either of these two events happens, the scores are tallied and the player who scored the most cat antics wins the game.
When playing the solo version of Cool Cats, you are facing off against a Feline Fiend. There are also rules for using Feline Fiends in multiplayer games.
I received a copy of the prototype of Cool Cats for review purposes.
The Game
Cool Cats is a print and play game. It is designed for 1 to 4 players of ages 8+. Each player needs a copy of the player sheet. You also need a deck of 30 cards, 3 each of the numbers 1–9 and 3 wild cards. If you are playing the game solo or the Free For All variation, you will also need to choose1 of the 6 Feline Fiends Cards.
Each player starts with a player sheet with all of the options available. The deck is shuffled, and cards are turned up in the middle of the table based on the number of players. Group the cards in sets by number.
On a player's turn they draft/select one of the piles of numbered cards in the middle of the table. They take one set of cards, and they take all of them in that set. For example, they might select a pile containing two 2s. The player then uses the cards they selected to mark off those numbers selected on their card.
There are five areas you can choose to mark numbers off from the cards selected. So can select numbers from Play, Belly Rubs, Sleep, Food, and Litterboxes. The number of cards in the set must all be used and there are requirements on how numbers are marked off in the five sections. There are bonus power plays when specified combinations are marked off that allow the player to take additional actions on their card. If a number cannot be marked off, it counts against the player (which is also tracked on their card).
When all the cards in the middle have been selected, the round ends and the process repeats. The game ends when either 5 rounds have been completed or when 1 player has a third card that can't be played. The winner is decided by adding up the scores of what has been marked off on the player's page, and the top score is the coolest cat.
The two variants of Solo and Free For All use the same basic rules of play. A Feline Fiend is selected and becomes one of the players. The winning conditions vary depending on the Feline Fiend in play.
Benny Sperling is the artist. The work I've seen reflects the sense of lighthearted play Cool Cats has throughout the rest of the game. The designs also make Cool Cats feel acceptable for younger players.
Overall
I want to focus on how the game played. Working with a prototype is a little harder because you know there can still be refinements to the game, so I am not going into the look of what we used.
Cool Cats has a simple rule set. The only issue any of us had was understanding the powers earned from marking off numbers. Once we cleared that issue up for them, we were able to get into playing and learning the strategy.
Younger players enjoyed Cool Cats for filling in the numbers. Older players soon understood some of the strategy and how you can force pothers into tougher choices. Everyone was able to enjoy it at different levels.
I was informed by the publisher, Roll and Write Revolution, Cool Cats will be on Kickstarter on the first of June 2023. You can also find more on Board Game Geek (link).
I recommend Cool Cats to players who already enjoy print and play style games and those who like cat themes.
Cool Cats is designed by Aaron Kempkes and published by Roll and Write Revolution. It is designed for 1–4 players of ages 8+. It is designed to last 20–50 minutes.
I'm working at keeping my material free of subscription charges by supplementing costs by being an Amazon Associate and having advertising appear. I earn a fee when people make purchases of qualified products from Amazon when they enter the site from a link on Guild Master Gaming and when people click on an ad. If you do either, thank you.
If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.
I have articles being published by others and you can find most of them on Guild Master Gaming on Facebook and Twitter (@GuildMstrGmng), and Instagram (danyocom). There are also videos on my YouTube Channel (@danielyocom5714).
You can also find out more about what I do at guildmastergaming.com.