Nekojima

Nekojima, “The Cat Island” in Japan, an electrical network is developing to supply the various lively districts of the island. The installation of electrical poles becomes more complex due to the narrowness of the territory and its curious population of cats wandering on the cables.”

Based on the popular islands in Japan where the feline critters outnumber their human counterparts, Nekojima, or the ‘Island of cats’ is the purrrrrfect new game from ‘Unfriendly Games.’  Its an original and fun game where precision is key, as you take it in turns to build up an electrical network on a small island. The aim of the game, is to build as high as you can without toppling the entire network! Meanwhile there's the small issue of the cats who just want to hang out in the tangle of wires

Whisker me away to Nekojima!

The main, circular board for the game consists of four districts, with each district colour coded; the red district is the food district, the blue district is a residential one, purple is a cultural district and finally the green district is an entertainment one. The districts of Nekojima match up with a face on the accompanying dice. Excitingly, the dice also have ‘wildcard’ faces, just to mix the game play up a little! One face means the player on the right can choose a colour/district (particularly fun when playing the competitive version of the game!) and the other where you can choose what colour/district you would like to place your Denchuu (utility poles) on. The game contains three sets of Denchuu which come in at three different lengths; the pink cable is the shortest length, with the blue cable being the longest, and the white cable in between. When laying the new electrical cables players must ensure they do not touch each other as that could cause an electrical cat-astrophe! No body wants that, whether working co-operatively or playing competitively.

The Chaos Cards team LOVE the components in Nekojima, they are so aesthetically pleasing, and so much fun to handle.  Although simple and easy to understand, the actions in the game really make it fun and involving, making it a very tactile experience. If you want a closer look, run over to  the Chaos Cards Youtube channel where Jonni unboxes Nekojima and explores the components of the game in more depth!

Avoid a Cat-astrophe!

Nekojima can be played in two modes, co-operative or competition. In co-operative mode it is up to the players to work as a team to build the electrical network as high as possible without knocking it down. In competitive mode however, the loser is the first to knock the construction down! It can also be adapted to play solo as well as the other game variants (which include expert, skyscrapers, urban jungle or duo.) Just to mix things up, there is a group of pesky cats who are on the loose and determined to cause havoc on your newly installed power network.

It’s a fun and easy to learn game where your skills and sense of balance really come into play! It makes the game even more interesting if you have a particularly clumsy player playing with or against you. As you can guess, we had a lot of fun playing the game as a family.

A Great Family Friendly Game :)

The Chaos Cards team really loved Nekojima. It was a fun game from start to finish. We loved how the basics of the game were simple to grasp and that you can play different versions, meaning that no two games are the same. We laughed a lot whilst playing which is always a good sign! It is definitely a great game to play with the family and also with friends.

If you are on the look out for more cat themed games, (or even plushies!) don’t forget to check out the wide variety of games available on the Chaos Cards website!

Have you played Nekojima? What did you think? Do let us know over on our socials. We always love to hear your thoughts on games!