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Box art via BoardGameGeek
The Isle of Cats
You draft cards, then jam cats into a boat like furry Tetris.
Designed by Frank West · 2019
A genuinely clever card-drafting puzzle wearing the cutest coat in the genre. It's fiddlier and longer than its kitten-soft looks suggest, but the puzzle underneath is the real reason it sticks around.
Best for: Puzzle lovers who want a cozy theme with a sneaky-sharp brain underneath.
What it is
Here's the pitch. You're racing to rescue cats off an island before the bad guy arrives, which mostly means drafting cards with fish and then fitting oddly-shaped cat tiles into your boat. Frank West built two games and bolted them together: a sharp card draft and a polyomino puzzle. The clever bit is how they feed each other. The cards you grab become the cats you place, and every placement scores in three or four directions at once. It's smarter than the kittens let on.
The catch
Now the honest part. The drafting is fiddly. You're passing hands around and tracking four little piles, and players consistently say it's messy for how few cats you actually rescue per round. The lesson cards, your secret scoring goals, lean hard on luck. Draw them late or whiff entirely and your score quietly suffers no matter how pretty your boat looks. Folks who want elegant, streamlined, or sharply competitive games tend to bounce off all the overhead. Tame an analysis-prone table with a timer.
Who it's for
So who's this for. If you like a chunky spatial puzzle and don't mind a little setup chaos, it's a delight, and the production is among the prettiest on the shelf. The family mode drops the drafting for a softer, faster version, which is great for kids or a tired brain, and the solo mode genuinely sings. Skip it if you crave fast, mean, or minimalist. Otherwise, this cat boat earns its spot.
What other players say
This write-up is grounded in real reviews and player discussion, not just one opinion. A few worth reading:
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