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The Isle of Cats blends two things that gamers seem to love: cats and polyominoes. Over five rounds, you want to fit as many cats as possible onto your ship in order to rescue them from that doomed island. Don't stop to ponder all the felines who didn't make it to safety, cats destined to suffer catastrophe because you didn't have time to fit in just one more cat; be satisfied with what you've done — unless someone else has scored more points than you, of course, in which case you should mope about the house and demand a rematch.
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Ran out of time before I ran out of room
The game includes three ways to play, with the family game essentially being its own thing given how many components and gameplay elements are added to the full game:
• Over five rounds in the family game, you draft from the pussycat pool and fit the animals on board with two private goal cards giving you guidance as to why you'd want cat A over cat B.
• In the full game, you manage a supply of fish and baskets as you'll need both of them to lure cats to your boat and catch them, these cats apparently being a bit more aware of safety precautions than those in the family game. At the start of each round, you draft, then purchase a hand of cards, with those cards supplying the needed baskets, along with personal and public goals, special treasure-grabbing cards, and assorted other actions.
• In the solo game, you play against an imaginary opponent who scores based on how poorly you defend yourself against its goal cards and how skillful you are at grabbing cats of the right colors, although you'll learn what those colors might be bit by bit.
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Steph delivers a cat-collecting lesson to Scott, Candice, and me during a BGG retreat
West's The City of Games ran a Kickstarter (KS link) for the game in mid-2019, and I've now played seven times on a review copy: three times on the full game, and twice each in the other modes. No matter the mode, experience pays off. In the two family games I played, my opponents greatly improved their scores from game #1 to game #2, although I had already played the full game three times and assembled superior boats. In my first solo game, I made incredibly poor plays that I realized were poor only halfway through the game, by which point my imaginary opponent was performing unreal celebratory dances.
Any skill you've gained in playing polyomino-based games will carry over in The Isle of Cats, with you being better able to imagine which pieces can go where, giving you an edge in planning during the cat-drafting part of the game, and once you get a handle on this particular set of polyominoes, you'll better be able to predict what you might see in future rounds, which will give you guidance in connecting those cats.
Final layout in a solo game
Experience also matters when drafting cards in the full game. What are the odds of grabbing rescue cards that will supply the baskets you need, and how many baskets are too many? What's the "right" amount to pay for cards in a round, knowing that you need to split your fish income between cards and cats? How many goal cards is it reasonable for you to grab, knowing that choosing those cards means you have to give up something else?
In your first full game, you'll draft cards somewhat randomly, struggling to figure out how to fit everything together, undoubtedly wasting fish on goals that don't pan out and special cards that didn't mesh with your other actions, but those uncatlike wobbly steps are needed in order to figure out where best to place your paws from game #2 forward.
For more details on the game, check out this video overview:
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