PLAYED
CATSTRONAUTS
In space no-one can hear you ‘squeeeeeee’
Designer: Simon Milburn & Caezar Al-Jassar | Publisher: Alley Cat Games
Let’s get one thing out of the way before anything else. Catstronauts is cute. Like, weapons grade cute. From the customisable catstronauts themselves, to the tiny kitten meeples, this is the equivalent of a cat giving you those big, loveable eyes while they purr for more treats. However, is there any depth beyond the sweet little kitties?
Well, the easy answer is ‘no, not really’ but the more difficult answer is a bit longer… which is a good job because I’ve got a word count to fill. Catstronauts is an incredibly easy to play reaction game that can be taught in seconds. You start by choosing your four catstronauts, which are numbered one to four (more on that in a moment). These are beautifully made wooden cat meeples, complete with some high-quality printed graphics. When you first open the box, you can customise the cats by sticking on different facial expressions to give them that extra cute factor. Normally I hate stickers – because my big sausage fingers screw them up – but there was something extremely satisfying about choosing the expressions and then (very carefully) sticking them down. From the off, Catstronauts is on the charm offensive.