SNAP Review – Simon’s Cat: The Card Game

“You are a cat. Do cat things. Don’t get caught. Blame everyone else. Match cards to make mischief and pass the blame, but don’t let Simon catch you!”

Simon’s Cat Card Game is a simple shedding game with a minor twist. Listen to our thoughts in under 4 minutes, or read on below.

Simon’s Cat Card Game was designed by Sam Mitschke and Randy Scheunemann, with illustrations by Simon Tofield (of Simon’s Cat). It is published by Steve Jackson Games.

Gameplay

Deal out the whole deck evenly among the players. On your turn, play a card from your hand by matching the color or number of the previous card.

Strategic twist: trick-avoidance (opposite of trick-taking). If you are unable to play a card on your turn, you take the whole pile, and it counts against you as one “mess”. Once all the cards have been played, the player (or players) with the most “messes” takes a Simon card.

Don’t make Simon angry!

Game ends when someone has 3 Simon cards – everyone else wins!

Cards are in 6 suits, unevenly distributed. (see right). Strategy depends on playing the right number at the right time, so you don’t end up stuck with cards you can’t play.

Impressions

We love the illustrations, all from the popular YouTube series “Simon’s Cat”. Each card is different, with the animals all in different poses across the different numbers.

Simon’s Cat Card Game is best as a fast-playing alternative to UNO. The box says ages 6+, which is about right for learning the strategy involved, but you can pull in a younger player who can match colors & numbers.

The strategy is a little different than other games approachable by young kids, because it begins to teach them how to plan out their moves ahead of time. Watch them learn probability as they realize that it’s much easier to play a gnome (1-2) or a high numbered cat early in the game, and save middle numbers (5-8) until the end.

Anitra: I really like this game and would give it a 5 out of 5.

Claire: I’d give it a 2.5 or 3. It’s an unoriginal game with no particular tie-in to its theme.

Verdict: 4 out of 5 paws.

Find it on Amazon or at your local game store.

The Family Gamers received a copy of Simon’s Cat Card Game from Steve Jackson Games for this review.