Pack The Essentials

Whenever I’m packing for a trip, I’m always trying to solve the puzzle of getting my essential items to fit into my luggage. It varies with how long I’ll be traveling and where I’m going, of course. But what happens when you throw cats into the mix?

Pack The Essentials is a tile drafting and placement game for 1-4 players ages 12 and up. It was designed by Jacqueline Atkins and published by Wacky Wizard Games (a family-focused imprint of Wise Wizard Games).

Setup

For the 2-4 player game, set up the board with the Round Marker and a To-Do List card for each number 1-3. These To-Do Lists provide end-game scoring objectives.

Each player takes a Cat Pawn, matching Suitcase player board, a Pack Rat, and a reference card. Each player board has one side that matches the other boards and then a unique side (marked by a shape at the top of the board).

Create a supply of the Pack Rat tokens and Pom-pom tokens near the main board in reach of all players, plus all the Underwear and Sock tiles.

The remaining Accessory tiles (shirts, pants, jackets, hats, etc) go into a drawstring bag. Take four tiles out and put them on the Tile space at the bottom of the game board.

Gameplay

Each round consists of three parts. Each player, starting with the first player, will place their Cat Pawn on one of the Draft Order spots on the game board. If you are playing with fewer than four players, the leftover spots will be filled in with Cat Lady tokens.

Then play resolves in Draft Order. The player with a Cat Pawn on the first spot will take the reward (an Underwear tile in the color of their choice) and then draft one of the tiles below. Play continues in order.

When you reach a spot occupied by a Cat Lady token, flip the token over. There will be a large number in the center, 1-4. Below that number is a sequence of the other three numbers. Whatever number shows up, take that corresponding tile from the game board and return it to the box. If the tile has already been drafted from the spot, follow the sequence until a tile is removed.

After a player gets their reward and has drafted an Accessory Tile, they place those tiles on their player board if possible. If that player has a Pack Rat, they can pay it to flip a tile they are placing to its Cat side.

But how do you decide where to place your tiles? Or whether to flip them Cat side up?

Scoring

There are three main ways of scoring points.

•  Each Cat tile in your suitcase at the end of the game gives you five points.
• The largest group of tiles of each color scores based on how many tiles are in the group.
• Receive the listed points for every time you fulfill the To-Do List objectives found on the three cards selected for this game. Don’t forget to use your Pom-poms to fill in some empty spaces!

The game ends after 12 rounds, and then players will tally up their scores using the included dry-erase marker and Reference Sheet/Score Sheet.

Solo Mode

As I noted above, there is also a one-player version of Pack The Essentials. You’ll still be drafting tiles and placing them on your player board over the course of 12 rounds while trying to complete To-Do Lists.

But the introduction of the Cat Lady cards adds some interesting wrinkles into the formula. First, flip the main board to the one-player side. Then, shuffle the deck of Cat Lady cards and draw one card. This card is now your Victory Condition card. It will show you the three To-Do List cards you need as well as the point total you need to beat. The rest of the Cat Lady cards form a deck that will restrict your tile choices!

On odd-numbered rounds, you will be the first player and get to select your Draft Order spot first. But on even-numbered rounds, you will flip the top card of the Cat Lady deck over. And that will tell you what spots you cannot place your Cat Pawn on. Once you’ve placed your Cat Pawn on the Draft Order spot of your choice, fill in the remaining three spots with Cat Lady tokens. Then, resolve Draft Order like you would in the base game, removing Accessory Tiles as needed. Otherwise, gameplay is exactly the same.

First Impressions

Visually, Pack The Essentials is a fantastically cute game. The cats are cute, no matter what size tile they are. And even some of the Accessory tiles are great. And puzzling through figuring out what tiles you need and how to place them just right to create a nice big group of one color is a fun mental puzzle.

But there is some discord between the cute artwork and the complexity of this game. And that’s why it’s marked as 12+ for the age. I honestly thought that, based on the box art, this was going to be more of a kids/family game. And kids will enjoy the cats, no doubt.

But there are some hard decisions to make here. You’re balancing a lot of ways to gain points here. And trying to get a lot of cats means drafting Pack Rats via either the third or fourth spot in the Draft Order. That could mean sacrificing Accessory tiles you really want. And some of the To-Do Lists might involve scoring Underwear or Socks, too.

Essentially…

Pack The Essentials is a cute tile-drafting and placement game. It doesn’t deliver anything very unique in mechanics, but it does come in an adorable package. 

Do keep in mind the strategy is a bit more complex than the art style suggests. There are many ways to score, and you really need to work at balancing them all. You cannot just focus on one specific scoring area and win. Also, it is entirely possible to box yourself in and find that you cannot place a tile into your suitcase towards the end of the game.

Pack The Essentials is not a bad game by any stretch. It just doesn’t deliver an experience that matches its look. This game may be a fit for your family if you love tile drafting games or if you have a cat lover who enjoys puzzle-type games.

Find Pack the Essentials on Amazon, direct from Wise Wizard Games, or at your local game store.

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Pack the Essentials from Wise Wizard Games for this review.

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