Catopomp: A Brand New Board Game!

It’s funny, but just the other day I was thinking there should be more games with cats in. I was mid-game of Dog Park – it took a couple of sessions but I’ve finally bonded with it – and I wondered if there could be a Cat Park instead for us feline fans. Pick out your favourite cats, stuff them in a kennel, whack a lead on them and take them for a trot through the trees. None of this would work with my cats. They’d freak out in the kennel and piddle everywhere, fight you if you dared trap them in a lead, and there’d be no walking – it would be a drag (we tried a lead on Tonto once, he collapsed and refused to move).

No, with animal games you have to get the theme right.

Catopomp from Swaggy Games has the theme tuned to perfection. I promise you’ll be sold on this without even seeing it: you’re running a team of cats whose job it is to usher lost souls into the afterlife. And I’ve lost half of you to the link already. For those who remain (seriously?), you will play the part of a new supervisor and you’ve got to keep your soul-guiding cats in line, which is no easy task. There has yet to be a cat in any plane of existence that will do as it is asked, trust me.

The goal of Catopomp is to play all of the cards and not be the last player left with unplayed cards. Each time you play cards from your hand, you must reveal one other and place it in front of you – this is called the Hell domain (uh oh). Players can see everyone’s hell cards, and make decision on what they play from their own hands. You can choose to pass your turn, but be wary: the player who played the current strongest set may transfer a hell card into your hell domain, making your cats’ workload that much harder to manage…
Over time you will reveal more and more cards, and remember, they must all be played to win. So, what do you reveal? Are you going to end up making your own life difficult? The balance between the hidden and the revealed is key here.