What is it about board games and cats? You don't need to look for long at any board game site on social media before you encounter photos of cats wandering across the table during a board game or curled up in a board game box. And there are dozens of cat-themed games, from Cat Lady (AEG) to Cat Sudoku (Sunrise Tornado). Gift Republic's Cat-Astrophe then is in good company.
You could make a strong case for Cat-Astrophe being the simplest and most straightforward of all the clowder or clutter of cat games. It's so simple that the box doesn't even have a rules sheet inside. Open it up and you'll find a tray of 15 plastic cats. The challenge - solitaire or for as many as want to play in a competitive game - is to stack them as high as you can before the stack tumbles over.
That's it: a simple and virtually rules-free dexterity game. It's so simple that it takes just a couple of minutes to play, straight out of the box. That said, it's surprisingly addictive: play it once and you'll want immediately to go again to see if you can manage a steadier hand or a more secure 'construction' to achieve a higher feline tower. It's a game that all the family can play and most of them will be clamouring to have a go.
And Cat-Astrophe comes in a long thin carton, so this is one tabletop game where we reckon you won't find pictures on Facebook of kittens curled up in the box!
Board's Eye View was not paid to show off Cat-Astrophe but we were sent a free review copy. This ideal Christmas stocking filler is available from Gift Republic and from Oliver Bonas.