Review – Cat in the Box

Trick-taking games are almost becoming a dime a dozen boardgame commodity. There are so many of them out there that there has to be some kind of hook in order to get them noticed.

There’s Brian Boru, for example (which I’ll be talking about in my July New to Me post). This one has trick-taking but also a kind of area control and you get rewards for losing tricks.

The most recent example that I can think of (or at least that I have played, though there is actually another trick-taking game in my July post coming up) is Cat in the Box.

Remember that whole Schrodinger’s Cat quantum mechanics thought experiment?

Imagine that as a trick-taking game.

The game was designed by Muneyuki Yokouchi (横内宗幸) with artwork by Osamu Inoue (井上磨). It was originally published in 2020 (I don’t know who the original publisher was) but in 2022 Bezier Games came out with a “deluxe” edition and that’s what I played.

It plays 3-5 players, though there is a 2-player variant.

How does it work?

Let’s take a look!

(Want to miss the “how to play?” Click here)

Cat in the Box is the same as many trick-taking games in that it has multiple cards numbered 1-9. There are actually five of each number, making a deck of 45 cards if you play with the full five players. You will be taking out the “9” cards for four players and the “7-9” cards for 3 players.

The hook with Cat in the Box is that the cards do not have any suits.

There are four suits in the game.

How can that be?

When you play a card, you choose what suit it is!

Playing a card also involves declaring what suit that card is. This would be the Blue 7.

You will then place one of your tokens on that card’s space on the board. This means that nobody can play a Blue 7 anymore this round.

But let’s go back to the beginning before we get into those weeds.

Players are dealt 10 cards. They will immediately all discard one card face down so only they know what it is.

Play only continues until each player has one card left in their hand (if it gets that far) so you will essentially only be playing 8 cards in the round (assuming it gets that far).

Then, beginning with the first player of the round, each player will predict how many tricks they will take in the round.

In the picture up above with the Blue 7, that player has predicted they will take 2 tricks.

The first player then leads and all other players must follow suit. If I play a Blue 7, the other players have to play a Blue “something.”

Or they can declare that they are out of Blue and say that the 1 they are playing is actually a Green 1.

Or a Red 1.

Red is the trump suit, so the highest red will win the trick. You also can’t lead a red card until somebody has already played another red card on somebody else’s trick.

When you declare yourself out of a suit, you remove your token from that colour and you can no longer play that suit.

What happens if you suddenly can’t play a card because there are no more spaces on the board that match the cards in your hand?

PARADOX!

Let’s say the only two cards you have left in your hand are threes. Or even better, you have a two, but you’ve already declared yourself as out of Blue.

You don’t have a valid card to play, so you will paradox.

The round ends immediately (the current trick doesn’t even finish). You lose one point for every trick you’ve won in the round.

Everybody else gets one point for each trick they’ve taken.

Also, if they managed to predict correctly, they get one point for each connected piece they have on the board in the largest grouping (so purple above would get 3 points for the Red 4, Blue 4, Blue 3 chain, but no points for the Yellow 6 or Green 5).

Play a number of rounds equal to the number of players, so each player has been the first player once. Whoever has the most points then is the winner!

Is Cat in the Box a cat in the lap of luxury with never-ending wet cat food and lots of ear scritches? Or is it a cat that shouldn’t have been left in the box in the first place?

I could be wrong, but I think Cat in the Box has assumed the role of my favourite trick-taking game, taking it away from Diamonds.

I just love the whole “suit-less cards” idea and how players have to declare what suit the card is. It adds that extra something to the trick-taking genre that just makes me smile.

The whole paradox concept is what really puts it over the edge, though. The uncertainty as the round progresses, the “oh shit, I only have two cards left and only one can be played, so I hope Bryan doesn’t play that number…crap, he did!” intensity that you normally don’t get in trick-taking games.

I’ve had rounds end with somebody having a paradox where I would have done the same if it had come around to me. But the round ends immediately, so I was safe.

Even more fun, though, is how somebody causing a paradox can actually screw somebody up. Again, the round ends immediately. I was going to win that trick and make my prediction of 3, but since the round ended, I only have 2 tricks.

That’s the tension as the round goes on that I really adore.

As with most trick-taking games, it can be a little rote at the beginning of each round, though. If somebody plays the highest Green, for example, most of the other players are going to play a Green something. There go four (or five) of the Green choices!

We’ve had some three-player games where two of the four colours went like that before things really started getting interesting.

I also have to say that while the game does work at 3 players, I think I would rather play it at 4 or 5.

With three players, you only play with the 1-6 cards. You also only play 3 rounds.

If you cause a paradox, you’re almost certainly out of it (unless each player causes a paradox each, I guess).

It just seems to be over before it begins.

It really shines with 4-5 players, though.

I do like the player board, though it’s difficult to get many points out of it. It’s nice for tracking what cards have been played, but I think the most I’ve ever seen somebody score was 3, and that’s assuming they meet their prediction.

You certainly can’t count on it, but if you’re a master player, maybe you’ll be able to!

The rules are very simple and I do like how the rulebook actually explains what trick-taking means. I know some games assume people grew up playing Hearts or Spades, but not everybody did!

There is an ongoing controversy on BGG about leading Red, and it would have been nice if the rules had been clearer on that.

The rules state that Red can’t be led until it’s been played on another trick first, or if the player has no other valid play.

The controversy is whether or not somebody can just declare they are out of all other colours and then they can lead Red immediately.

That may be stupid, but maybe it’s ingenious?

I don’t know, but the rules don’t really make it clear.

Anyway, that’s the only real fault in the rulebook.

The components in the deluxe edition are top notch with neat little plastic pieces for the board and the card artwork is super cute considering that it’s just a black cat in 9 different poses.

Overall, if you have any interest in card games at all, you should give Cat in the Box a try. It’s a wonderful trick-taking game and an excellent example of the genre.

If you don’t like them, this one won’t change your mind (I’m looking at you, James).

The interesting mechanics go together with great card play to make this one a winner.

This review was written after 6 plays