If the current explosion in the 'Duel' range of games proves anything, it is that games truly shine when designers are honest about what player count they want their game to be played to. It's entirely expected for a publisher who wants their product to appeal to as many players as possible, to label everything as suitable from 1 to 6 players when the truth is that the solo variant is an eleventh hour addition to a game that is nothing more than a score attack, and anything over 4 players results in a game that lasts well beyond the expected 60 to 90 minute playtime.
If anything the Duel games force the designer to be ruthless with their creation, cutting down their larger beast down to something leaner and concentrate on what concepts give this games its identity. The Isle of Cats Duel looks at taking the highly successful family game from Frank West and his team, and distils it down into two players as they take turns in trying to rescue various types of multi-coloured fantasy cats from the hideous Lord Vesh. As a dog lover, I don't really see an issue in any of this, but for narrative purposes, I am suitable horrified and will do my best to rescue these furry sociopaths of the pet space.
Isle of Cats Duel at its core is a drafting tile laying point scorer efficiency puzzle, where the ultimate goal is to have as many cats on your individual ship, grouped together where possible in families of three or more, cover up rat spaces and avoid leaving as many spaces blank as possible on the boat. You'll also have the chance to fulfil lessons at the end of the game, which if you meet certain conditions, you'll score additional bonus points for your efforts.
Most of the action will take place on the shared island, with a mixture of cats and lesson cards where players take turns to move the noble white and green Oshax cat two spaces across set paths on the rectangular island board and then pick up on the items the cat has traversed that turn, whether it be a cat tile of a various shape, or an action card. Some cards will give you treasure, where the majority are likely to bestow you with a lesson card. Lesson cards come with conditions and score at the end of the game, and while the obvious selection is to pick up a cardboard feline, once you've played a few games its clear they're where the points difference can really come into play. There's no real penalty for having lesson cards you can't score, especially if it stops your rival from claiming them for their own.
Cat tiles are various different polyomino shapes and must be placed next to an existing tile on your ship. It causes you to have to plan as much as you can to make sure your building cat families while covering rats and avoiding leaving any gaps.
As your ship fills up, you'll need to plug spaces with smaller treasure tiles, and you will need to plug spaces, as any rooms that aren't fully filled will dock points from your final total. Its no small penalty by any means. You'll also have the chance to spend fish, which give you the chance to move extra spaces, claim treasure or even transport the Oshax to another part of the selection island board. You never really feel you have no choices to pick from and even when you have no choices you think worthwhile, it is completely acceptable to drop out of the round until the island is refreshed for the next time. Though as stated earlier, it is always worth collecting lesson cards just in case.
While Isle of Cats Duel is the smaller compact version of the bigger family favourite, it offers a less forgiving environment to play in. Its a very tight game where you have to be conscious of where you are placing every single tile, as it can often feel like you're choosing between several different option where every option does matter and will make a difference. While you have a number of opportunities to pick up tiles on every round, there are only four rounds to play in and once you're used to playing, time will pass very quickly indeed. You'll ned up in situations where a lesson cards makes sense as it will pick up points, but picking the other card will deny your opponent, but also this cat over here has a fish that will allow you to pick up some treasure to plug the gap on your boat. So yeah, you might feel it plays like a kitten, but there are certainly some claws in those paws.
Perhaps the only issue I have is the end of game scoring, where I feel the five point deduction for each uncovered room feels slightly too punitive. There's certainly been a few times where plans and points created by lessons and families were wiped out because five rooms were not totally covered, and 25 points were dropped from the final score sheet because of it. It adds to the continual need to cover all the boat as you go and pushes you to complete rooms rather than simply be collecting spaces. It's a game that only ever wants two players and because of that doesn't feel the need to compromise to keep every one happy. It strikes me as an 8pm Isle of Cats, maybe not as approachable for the younger generation but for those who want a game that balances a younger aesthetic with a bit more of a challenging bite, that won't cost you an entire evening. While I'm never ever going to like the theme (dogs 4eva), I must admit, that I'm certainly happy to bring it to the table. I'm not purring, you are..
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