Heading Overboard with Lost Points in The Isle of Cats
Prepare to see the outcome of some of the worst planning in the relaxing and beautiful game of The Isle of Cats.
During my last session with The Isle of Cats, I laughed at myself for how poorly I planned. I believe I used the word “trounced” to describe a somewhat lackluster performance at the easy difficulty level. Still, with a victory to my name, I believed it appropriate to try out the next difficulty level. I mean, how hard could this be?! Oh, Jessica. How unwise!
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
One of the aspects I love the most is how low the conflict level is. There is no combat. No fighting. No struggle to pull ahead. It’s just… Your terrible sister!
Things looked pretty great when I started off with a trio of Oshax. These wildcard cats certainly had a lot to offer!
What’s for Dinner?
I stumbled across an interesting lesson that rewarded me for leaving the dining room entirely empty. No cats allowed in this area! But rats were apparently fine.
This was an odd sort of strategy since I was going to automatically lose points for the empty room.
Fitting the cats around the boundaries proved to be quite the challenge! I had to rethink a couple of moves and change up the cat tiles I normally would have chosen.
But near the end, I definitely pulled it off! The dining room was completely closed off. No dinner for anyone tonight.
A Neat Interruption
It’s often difficult to keep all of the components organized during play for a variety of board games. Bags are my nemesis, and saving precious storage space is imperative.
This might not look like the greatest idea, but this saved me a lot of time! All of the treasure tiles are separated out for the solo game so I don’t have to constantly recount.
Perhaps I’ll show off some of my organized boxes one of these days. Cutting down on setup time helps a ton!
The other benefit of this storage container is how simple it is to grab components during play. So easy. I love it!
Falling Into a Trap
Now, follow my descent into my worst scoring game. Possibly EVER! It all started with the standard solo lessons. Nothing unusual here: I knew all of these cards.
I had to have every cat type touch the edge of the boat. Or is this more like a ship?! Large families were also off the docket. But not overboard. I was on a rescue mission. Ha!
My major misstep happened with the points for filled rooms. Losing 3 points per room wasn’t even that bad.
But of course, I took this to mean I needed to avoid filling every single room. Negative points? Pshaw. I was fine!
The Good and Bad of the Solo Lessons
With such a wide-open world full of strategies, it’s nice to have certain paths to follow from the start. A bit of luck comes into play, though. A trio of unrelated solo lessons can spell trouble with an inability to capitalize on a variety of scoring opportunities. Still, I’m sure even the seemingly impossible scenarios offer up their own sorts of challenges!
An Advanced Lesson
Things really fell apart when I couldn’t find any good ways to score points for myself. Public and private lessons can be very lucrative, particularly when they work together.
Yet with this very sassy sort of cat in play, I was practically blocked from earning points without sister taking a cut.
What a nightmare! I played on, confident that I was going to end up with a fantastic score and show her up.
But little by little, I saw all the flaws in my strategy. I was about to take on enough negative points to sink my shop, and getting out of that mess was going to be hard!
Session Overview
Play Number: 4
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Medium Difficulty Level
Required Play Space: 32″ x 24″
Setup Time: 10 Minutes
Play Time: 30 Minutes
Outcome: -4-29 (Loss)
Yes, you read that correctly. I never actually made it into the positive points territory. Yikes! There were still so many discoveries that looked good but didn’t help me out enough. Or maybe this was just a tremendous trouncing!
%
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 are your thoughts about The Isle of Cats? Have you managed to win the solo mode at the higher difficulty levels? I’m definitely in need of working through some better strategies! Still, it’s fun to laugh at myself sometimes and see how horrible my decisions turn out to be. Never fear: This sister solo opponent won’t get the best of me again! I hope…
Definitely a degree of luck with the lesson cards. Lends to the replayability though where the combination of lesson cards is always a unique puzzle. Even if your sister has a stinker draw working in her favor, I find the game still in doubt until the last round or two where I think I still have a chance. Of course, I’m not bothering with any pre-counting as I like the surprise of the win or loss! 🙂
Great assessment, Derek! I think I’ll probably get better over time and then really enjoy those plays when it looks like I’m doomed to lose. Challenge accepted! There’s a lot to love here. I temporarily cleared it off my table, though I’m definitely going to play again soon. These cats are just so much fun! But not that sister… Ha ha!