Cat in the Box

	trick-taking ; cards w/ external pieces		45 min on box, up to 1 1/2 hours		2-5 on box, 4-5 is best
	simple mechanics ; complicated strategy		Muneyuki Yokouchi (横内宗幸)		Osamu Inoue (井上磨)

Purchased in 2023 from a local game store.

Played before purchasing: yes

Definitely the toughest game I have in my collection at the moment. Cat in the Box is a trick-taking game with a twist: all the number cards have no color, the suit of the cards isn't defined until it is "observed", i.e. until you play it and declare it. But it's not as simple as declaring it to be whatever you want, because functionally it still has to look like a normal deck when observed. A tracker in the middle of the table keeps track of which cards have been played, and you're not allowed to double up. Additionally, there are five of each number card in the game and only four suits, so if you aren't prioritizing getting all your cards out, it's surprisingly easy to "paradox" and end the hand in the negative.

Cat in the Box gives you multiple things to juggle. There's avoiding paradoxes, for one. For another, this isn't a trick-taking game where you simply want to make the most tricks, it's a matter of precision: you make your bet when you recieve your hand and are only awarded bonus points if you make it exactly. On top of that, your bonus points are determined by the cluster of tokens on the board in front of you, a grid of the suits and card numbers that you have been filling up as you play. Meaning that each trick isn't just a chance to win and a chance to get something out of your hand, the specific card played matters towards your end points. If you focus too much on making bonus points, you might not meet your bet and only end up with points for tricks taken, but if you focus too much on both you may paradox before anyone else does, and those won tricks become negative. This is when player count really starts to matter, as you play as many rounds as you have players, and more rounds help even out the score.

The game has adorable cat art that is lovely to look at while not being distracting to the mechanics. It also has five sets of resin tokens which are just incredibly eddible. They look like fruit gummies.

Bonus round: Cat in the Box tokens ranked by assumed tastiness:

• 1: atoms : they look exactly like the Haribo bears
• 2: apples : they're already fruit shaped!
• 3: beakers : I just love the color
• 4: planets : they look like they'd taste like blueberry
• 5: mice : this isn't because they're mice, but beecause the color doesn't remind me of anything specific, grape flavored things are usually darker in color

Bonus round: over!

Would I recommend this game?

If you are someone who is up for a challenge, absolutely! This isn't the one to pull out casually at family game night, it takes people who are engaged and ready to think hard about strategy. On the other hand, the rules don't take long to explain, and anyone familar with trick-taking games will catch on pretty quick. It's brutal, but there is no slow death here, individual rounds go quick and anyone can suddenly jump up or down in score at the end of each hand.

Family Buisness

	cards ; party game		30 min - 1 1/2 hours		4-12
	very luck based ; easy		David B. Bromley		(many artists)

Gifted in 2018 (?), I own two copies

Played before purchasing: yes

There are a hundred different re-releases of this game, and unfortunately, I have the ugliest one! >:(

Why do I own two copies of an ugly game? Because the first came with so few cards that it was difficult to play with a larger group, you were constantly re-shuffling and there are certain cards that are super rare, only one in existance. This meant that if you had it, you could garuntee no one else did. And that ruined the excitement, especially since people are prone to hoard powerful cards until the end.

Family Buisness is a pretty simple draw and play game. You start with 9 mobster cards and take turns putting "contracts" on other players to put their cards on the "hit list" in the center of the table, when a mob war starts they get killed off in succession. Last person with any cards left wins! The chaos starts when you play any sort of block card, and it jumps to your turn.

This is a game that can be really fun or really boring depending on the group. You have to come into it ready to tell a story, to get dramatic and upset and form aliances. If you just do what the cards say, you're going to have a boring time either beating everybody or waiting for a good card to finally come into your hand. I've had some great sessions and I've had some really slow ones.

Like I mentioned, this game has had a hundred re-releases and so many different art styles across them. The nicest looking art is in the earlier versions, with a really cool art deco vibe in 70's colors. In the 2000's though you get this ugly oversaturated mess of caricatures. At least the later versions actually have the rules written on each card, something the earlier ones didn't have. You were just supposed to remember a dozen different cards, I guess. THe rules for my version kinda suck too, with conflicting differences to the rules on the cards.

Would I recommend this game?

Tentatively yes, it's a really fun game with the right crowd (especially a drunk one). But if you're out for a challenging game night, or just playing with people who take everything too seriously, this isn't it.

We're the Rats (MTG deck)

Started in 2019 or so, stopped adding to it in 2022

Yes yes even I have been suckered in to the gambling card game. In my defense, I got into it because my partner at the time played, and my deck was built almost entirely from her and her friend's collections. Over time, I purchased a few heavy-hitters to lock in the strategy, but I never got into buying packs to open them.

My We're the Rats is a mainly black token-hell rat deck centered around Piper of the Swarm. What does this mean? It means I make a shit ton of rats and then send them out to steal YOUR creatures to do my bidding! Is it a good deck? Nope! But it's FUN and I even win sometimes!

My rats have lots of little abilities too that help them out as a token-hell, like strength that multiplies in numbers and fun abilities like Deathtouch. But overall if I don't get a major token generator out fairly quickly I'm pretty much struggling to keep my head above water. The deck works best against decks with large, simple creatures that I can easily turn agianst other people. Since it doesn't matter how big a creature is, it costs me the same to steal it. I also have a few any-color lands in there, just in case I do end up wanting to use the ability of a creature that needs more than black mana.

My favorite part of this deck is the tokens, I keep around one rat token card but instead of a die to keep track of the number, I use 20 tiny LEGO rats and pile them up on the card. It's extremely satisfying and very entertaining. That's my goal here, to have fun!

Scout

	ladder game ; tokens for scoring		20 min on box, 45 in experience		2-5 ; recommended 4-5
	Easy to learn hard to master		Kei Kajino		Jun Sasaki, Rie Komatsuzaki

Gifted to me in 2023 from a local game store.

Played before purchasing: yes

What is apprently called a ladder game, in turn each player simply has to put down a higher scoring play than the person before them. The scoring is simple; higher numbers win, then a run (numbers in a sequence) is always beaten by a set (multiple of the same number), and a play involving more cards will always beat anything with fewer. The fun part: you can't reorganize your hand!

Each of the cards has two numbers, you can rotate it to have either be on the top or the bottom. Once you get dealth your hand, that's the order your cards are on. On your turn you either "show", i.e. putting down a play and scoring the cards of the last one, or "scout", taking one card from the previous play and adding it, either number up, anywhere you like in your hand. A round ends when someone runs out of cards, and you get negative points for any cards left in your hand! So it's a game of balancing playing out cards and taking in cards to build better plays.

The no re-organizing your hand mechanic is one that takes getting used to for some people, it's an extra layer of strategy that a lot of games don't have. Though I know two others that do, Photograph and Bohnanza, that also use it really well. This game changes a lot depending on the number of players in order to keep it balanced, and I'd always recommend playing with 4-5 if you can or else it might be a little wierd.

A note on the art, the international release is wierd. This game was originally made in Japan with a completely different art style. Think UNO but with less color and more lines. It's really clean! And simple! But for some reason, they made new art for the international release. It's now circus themed, and though I don't mind the themeing or the palette (I especially like how the colors are ordered by number, so they look satisfying when you get a long run) there is just so much unnecissary clutter. Like how each number is assigned a circus performer (trampoline, clown, juggler) and each individual card is given a name (a person's name. like. Amanda or Jack). There is absolutely no purpose to these that I can see, and it just makes it confusing to new players who have to be told to ignore it.

I would prefer to have the Japan release but it's a little more than I want to pay to get it shipped when it's such a simple little game. I do like the cardstock chips it comes with as victory points and score counters. The rest of the circus theme is cute I just don't understand the extra symbols.

And no, it isn't colorblind adjustment, because the symbols are associated with each number. There is already a non-color mechanic in place, that's the main mechanic. The colors themselves are just for show.

Would I recommend this game?

Yes! Absolutely great easy to learn game to bring out when you want a little challenge but aren't necessarily up for explaining a ton of rules. It's harder than it looks.

Take 5

	cards ; party game		45 min on box, accurate		2-10 ; 4-6 is best
	quick to learn ; easy to bs through		Wolfgang Kramer		(many artists)

Purchased in 2023 from a local game store.

Played before purchasing: yes

This is my go-to time waster ice breaker party game! Plays up to ten people and I can explain the rules in five minutes. You chose your cards all at the same time and then wait for everyone before revealing, which gives the rest of the table time to chat! Play moves quickly enough, but not so wuick that you can't carry a conversation at the same time.

My review of the 2019 English release art is that it's fine, it's more simplified than the German art and I prefer it that way. The bull designs don't really mean anything to the gameplay, and it's not really pleasing to the eye, but it's bright and colorful and gets the point across well.

Would I recommend this game?

100% yes! It's a solid part game if you're looking for an alternative to something like UNO. I think it even has a one-up on UNO depending on the situation in that it's not as directly antagonistic or fast-paced, so you can play a little more casually at a bar or family get-together when you also want to chat.

House rules:

The scoring inthis game is really flexible. Sometimes I simply score points based on position i.e. first, second, third for each round. When playing with three or fewer people, I tend to just keep the score card piles going instead of writing down the points and shuffling them back in. Only the cards still on the table get added back. This adds an extra layer of interest, since in the earlier rounds you will tend to avoid the higher point cards, if you never shuffle the taken cards back in in leads to a deck with a higher and higher percentage of spicy cards, upping the stakes. Then you just play until you can't deal out the deck anymore.

Illimat

Gifted to me Christmas 2023

Played before purchasing: no

I just got this one, I still haven't played it yet!

Hardback

Purchased in 2024 from Barnes & Noble.

Played before purchasing: yes

I just got this one, I still need to do a write up!

Bananya

Gifted to me 2023

Played before purchasing: no

This game fucking sucks. Don't get it.

Fugitive

	cards ; deduction		5 - 20 minutes		2
	simple but the deduction is key		Tim Fowers		Ryan Goldsberry

Gifted to me 2024

Played before purchasing: yes