Setting Sail for the Colorful Land of The Isle of Cats
Pounce back into the wonderful world of The Isle of Cats with another exciting session at the easy difficulty level.
My first impressions were, admittedly, a little lukewarm. The Isle of Cats looks beautiful and has a lot of strategic depth, but the rulebook really threw me for a loop. This is often why I continue to play and give every board game a chance! So off I went with my trusty ship and a better idea of how to play. To the island! Or isle… Close enough. Ha!
Game Overview
Game Name: The Isle of Cats
Publication Year: 2019
Designer: Frank West
Artists: Dragolisco and Frank West
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
The concepts are straightforward enough: Fill up a ship with different cats and treasures! I got started right away during the first turn with some lucky draws.
The treasure was plentiful, and I even befriended one of the mysterious Oshax! Things looked very promising.
Stretching Out
The next day proved to be even better! Rare treasures were uncovered and some very lazy cats climbed aboard. Or rather, were lured in with fish and baskets. Delicious.
Puzzling through every tile placement was a lot of fun, and more challenging than I thought it would be!
Tiles typically must touch an existing tile, which makes the initial placement important. I took a bit of a risk jamming everyone on one side of the ship.
The mix of cats and treasures also presents some subtle but interesting strategies. I felt like I was doing well!
Crossing the Ship
With a good deal of luck, the halfway point gave me plenty of scoring opportunities. I had a few small families together but also had to remember my nemesis.
More on that so-called sister in a moment! I picked up another Oshax and plenty of additional treasures.
The one element that can be difficult to see is the room symbols. They might look obvious here, but they tend to blend in with the rest of the elements. Still, not too bad!
My one concern was the family of red cats… Where were they?! Apparently hiding on the other side of the isle.
A Paw’s Length Away
As the end drew within sight, I set to work covering up the rest of the rats and trying to maximize my own points. The families were small, but I had other tricks up my sleeve.
The only trouble was the red cat family. I needed to have every type touching the edge of the ship. So close!
But there was still another turn to go as I examined my options. I might be able to fill in a final room, although that would be difficult without perfectly shaped tiles.
I thoroughly enjoyed puzzling through every turn! Now, I just needed a little luck with the final draw of cat tiles…
The Solo Lessons
With every solo play, the lessons shape the different paths. I had a few goals in mind: All of the rats were already covered, and I was very close to zeroing out Glamorous.
I loved reading all of the unique titles of the cards, although they felt a little tacked on. More details, please!
Top Marks meant that I had to minimize the points available from the remaining solo lessons. I was only looking at 5 points at the moment… Best get that to zero.
Sister will always score based on the cat colors, although it’s possible to keep this base value low.
Sailing for Home
Alas, the final assortment of cat tiles just didn’t want to cooperate! There were no red cats to choose from, so I had to settle for a few lost points. Not the end of the world.
My only other useful moves were to increase the size of my green and purple cat families, but that wasn’t worth too much. Still, I wasn’t about to turn down more points!
Filling in the rooms turned out to be impossible with the tile shapes I had before me. I would lose those points.
However, all wasn’t lost! I had some excellent lessons to boost my score pretty substantially. Would it be enough?
A Sea of Earned Points
Public lessons granted me half of their usual points per the solo mode rules, but they were still worth a lot!
My own private lessons worked in tandem with my strategy. All of the rats were gone, leading to a pretty easy 10 points. And treasure? I was practically drowning in it!
Perhaps the lessons introduce the most variability, along with the potential for unbalanced play. It all comes down to the discovery card deck, which boasts tons of options.
I was very happy with what I accomplished aboard this ship! It definitely looked like an improvement for me.
Going Overboard
Well… I guess I took this private lesson a little too seriously. It required at least 5 leftover fish to earn the points. I had a whopping 31 fish in my reserves! Oh, my.
I kept several cards that gave me fish for my treasures and certain cats. Most of those paid out quite handsomely!
At the same time, I haven’t done a great job of managing my baskets. Having too many is unnecessary since the ship can hold a finite number of cats. No steerage here!
But my score was most impressive as I notched my first win! I wasn’t done, though… Time to reset everything!
Colorful Cats
Look at these gorgeous wooden cat meeples! Let their amazing beauty distract you from the fact that my next play was almost laughably bad as I failed in every way.
But that’s not important. Ha! There are some board games that seem to be extra photogenic, and this is one of them.
Board game photography is something I’m still exploring, yet it’s always nice to have a cooperative subject. Some of my other games just don’t know how to pose. Ha ha!
The only downside to the wooden cats is how rarely they’re used. Still, at least they’re included!
Session Overview
Play Number: 2 and 3
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Easy Difficulty Level
Required Play Space: 32″ x 24″
Setup Time: 5 Minutes
Play Time: 40-45 Minutes per Play
Outcome: 60-49 and 48-72 (1 Win and 1 Loss)
I blame these sleepy cats for my annihilation in the second play! Despite the loss, I knew what I did wrong and could improve in the future. Theoretically. This was a lot more fun than my initial play. How I do love this sort of puzzle!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
5
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
10
Continue the Conversation
What is your favorite aspect of The Isle of Cats? Do you enjoy the different challenges of filling up the ship in various ways? This one is definitely growing on me, and my play time seems to be slowly decreasing… A good sign! I may move it more into a rotation space rather than doing a deep dive, but who knows? I’m having such a great time with the cats!
Nice follow up review. 🙂 Looks like you may need to increase the difficulty a notch?
I agree on the tile placement being a joy of the game, reading the card titles, the small room icons (I usually need to look at the diagram in the rulebook), and the low use of the cat meeples. Some of those are not major negatives to me, but definitely points to note. I also agree with you on the card warping, although mine seem to be flattening a little as well.
Oh, just wait for the next report! I think you and I will have a good laugh over what happens when I up the difficulty just a notch. Ha ha! The negatives are definitely very minor, and I think my cards are almost entirely flat now. I usually note that because they usually flatten out, but I’ve had some experiences with horrible productions where the cards almost twist around themselves. Yikes!
The other nice thing is how relaxing this game is. It’s just so pretty to look at, and what’s the worst-case scenario? You still rescue some cats and then have to sit on the sidelines and gasp as your sister takes the credit. How dare you! Ha! I love these low- to no-conflict sorts of board games these days!