Is Not Geddy Lee
United States
Sandy Hook
Connecticut
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Meeples - You get a game board, a painted wooden cat, 5 teams of mice in varying colors. Again, the meeples are terrific. The mice have little felt ears and waxed string tails. The paint job is very good and has not worn off despite a lot of playtime. There are also four different pieces of cheese in varying sizes, again made of wood and painted nicely.
Theme - The idea here is that you are a family of mice trying to get as much cheese as you can. There is a cat chasing all the mice, of course, and you have to decide to get a small piece of cheese or push around the track to get the bigger slices. The idea is carried out on the board as the mice can ditch into “holes” in the corners and get to some cheese.
Rules - You start off with a specific number of mice based on the number of players there are. The cat starts off on a spot dependent upon that number as well. All of the mice start in a central location on the board and each player rolls a six sided die. The die has two "1" spots, each with a picture of the cat. When a "1" is rolled, the player may move their mouse one space, but then have to move the cat to the next cat space. The player moves their mouse the number shown on the die. Up to three mice can share a space. The player can move a mouse into a hole to get some cheese, but then that mouse is done for the game.
Game Play - There are some tricky parts to this that younger ones may have trouble grasping. On the cat’s second lap, the cat spaces are two apart, making in less likely for any mouse still out there to escape. While it is a ‘roll & move’ game, players have to decide whether to advance one mouse further along, leaving others close to the cat, or to try to keep them all closer together. It is a tricky decision as the cat could move several times between your moves and you can lose multiple mice quickly. The player has to decide to balance the risk with the better reward, but has to be aware that there is not enough cheese for all the mice! Sometimes it may be better to get a smaller piece of cheese than to lose your mouse to the cat.
Educational Value - Basic counting skills are reinforced and some probability can be taught with the six sided die as the cat will move on 1/3 of the turns. Decision making skills are also important as the player needs to decide if they want to risk fewer mice getting cheese, but the ones that do, getting larger pieces.
Adaptability - There are many ways to simplify this game for newer or younger gamers. You can start off by just making it a racing game, eliminate the cat for a bit to get the basic rules down, then introduce the cat. Another idea is to keep the cat only moving one space at a time on the second lap, that could slow it down to allow some wiggle room for young players. I would not change the number of mice each player gets though. That would allow some players to narrow down their choices while not helping the younger ones. You can also start the younger player’s mice on the board instead of in the start position, or move the cat starting position down the board further. This games offers many ways to tweak it to slowly introduce it to less experienced gamers.
Adult fun factor - Adults will probably enjoy this one on its own. While it may be simpler or easier for the adults to make better decisions, the die rolling evens things out and our children win as often as the adults do, with no changing the rules. While this might not hit the table once the kids are in bed for the night, it is a game that the grown-ups will laugh out loud with as much as the kids.
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tim
United States
hudsonville
Michigan
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hseldon wrote: Up to three mice can share a space.
That should be four mice can share a space.
Great review, I recently bought and played this with my kids and I think you summed it up very nicely.
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Is Not Geddy Lee
United States
Sandy Hook
Connecticut
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Whoops! You are correct! Thanks for noticing that and the positive feedback. My kids love this game as well.
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Alexey Babaitsev
Russian Federation
Moscow (Postal Code 115597)
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Nice review. Thanks for the easier variants. I'm looking forward to buy this game for my 3.5 years old son!
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