Kit & Caboodle (1997)

The publisher says: "Kit & Caboodle is a lighthearted attempt to explore how people think, organize, and categorize things in their lives. . . . The structure of Kit & Caboodle draws on the complexities of probability, set theory, the riddle of evolution, and the psychology of perception."

Actually, it is a dice game very similar in gameplay to Yahtzee or Kismet. Players have six dice, and roll any or all dice one, two or three times attempting to obtain dice combinations fitting a scoring category. Players fill scoring boxes and add them for a total score. The player with the highest total score wins the game.

Instead of number combinations, though, you are mixing and matching animals and their characteristics (plus a moon and and planet!). For each turn you must fill in a category on the scorepad. So there are decisions such as whether to use a bird for a Bird Caboodle, a Wings Kit, or a Shells Kit.

Not all seventeen figures are on all the dice, as they are six-sided, so you must keep in mind that some rolls would not work, ever. Also figures aren't represented equally but are merely an assortment. For example, there are 4 birds, all green; there are 2 "boo" but only one of all the other purple letters, 3 moons, 2 green planets, and 2 pterosaurs (one of each color).