Play review of the board game 'Isle of Cats Complete Japanese Version' that aims to rescue from the dark army by laying cats on the ship

' Isle of Cats Complete Japanese Version ' is a board game where you can explore the island 'Isle of Cats' where ancient noble cats live and rescue cats and treasures. Four editorial staff actually played this game, which aims to win by laying tiles shaped like Tetris blocks on a ship-shaped board and clearing various tasks.

Isle of Cats Full Japanese | ArclightGames Official

The number of players is 1 to 4, the play time is 60 to 90 minutes, and the target age is 8 years old and over.

On the back of the lid of the box, there was a 'space for a real cat'.

The contents are 5 color cat coma, Vesh ship, a lot of tiles

Ship board, island board, bag, score sheet, card, pencil, rule manual, family rule sheet.

There are 5 types of cat coma, orange, blue, green, purple, and red, and there are 6 of each.

This is the 'cat tile'. There are 17 differently shaped tiles for 5 colors.

Vesh's ship looks like this. The story is that the army of 'Vesh', nicknamed 'The Hand of Darkness', is about to invade the 'Isle of Cats' on this ship.

The 'fish token' that replaces currency in the game looks like this. There are two types, one and five.

The left side of the image is the 'normal treasure tile' and the right side is the 'rare treasure tile'. Place this treasure tile in a gap that cannot be filled with cat tiles alone.

There are 6 'Oshack style' tiles, which have a different role from ordinary cat tiles.

This is a 'basket token', one side is colored and one side is gray.

The ship board is spread out and used, and tiles are laid on it. Rats and maps are drawn on the board, and the position and color will change slightly depending on the board.

On the island board, the squares and cat footprints that count the rounds, and the 'Isle of Cats' that is the stage of the game are drawn.

Cards include discovery cards, family rule cards, color designation cards for one person, basket cards for one person, assignment cards for one person, and color identification quick reference cards. 'Family rules' is a way of playing that is prepared separately from the basic rules, and this time we will not use family rule cards or single-player cards.

There are 6 types of discovery cards, 'task card', 'common task card', 'rescue card', 'as needed card', 'treasure card', and 'Oshax card', all of which have the same back side.

'Color identification quick reference card' is a card prepared for players who have difficulty in identifying colors.

◆ Preparation
First, place the Vesh ship at the '5' position with the side with the red cat icon at the bottom left of the '5' number on the island board facing up.

Below that, arrange the normal treasure tiles by shape.

Line up all the shack styles under the normal treasure tiles.

Shuffle the discovery cards well and place them as a 'mountain of discovery' in a location that is easy for everyone to pick up.

Place all basket tokens in an easy-to-understand position.

Put the fish tokens together and put the cat pieces separately for each color.

Put all the cat tiles and rare treasure tiles in the bag, and put this bag in a position where everyone can easily take it.

Each player receives one ship board and places it with the red cat icon facing up in the 'Round Quick Reference' position on the top right.

You will also receive one basket token at a time and place it near the ship board with the colored side up.

After deciding the starting player, each player chooses the color of his cat piece and places one cat piece in order at the position of the footprint on the island board. Player A selected purple, player B red, player C blue, and player D green. Now you are ready to go. About 40 minutes had passed since I prepared while reading the rules.

◆ I actually played with 4 people
The flow of the game continues after placing tiles on the field, ' Fishing Phase ', ' Exploration Phase ', ' Challenge Phase ', ' Cat Rescue Phase ', ' Rare Pickup Phase ', and finally prepare for the next round 1 The score will be calculated when the round is over and the 5th round is over. First, place cat tiles in the field. The left side of the island board is called the 'left field' and the right side is called the 'right field'. Eight tiles are taken out of the bag and placed in each field.

If you draw a rare treasure tile, place it near the normal treasure tile and redraw it until the cat tile appears.

Next, move on to the ' fishing phase '. Each player receives 20 fish tokens.

Next is the ' Exploration Phase '. The start player deals 7 discovery cards to each player.

The dealt player checks the cards, selects the two cards that he wants to keep, and hands the remaining five cards to the player on the left.

Check the cards that have been handed over, select the two cards that you want to keep again, and hand the remaining three cards to the player to the left.

Process the 3 cards passed in the same way, give the last remaining card to the player on the left, and check the 7 cards left at hand again.

However, the 7 cards you choose are not the same as your hand, and you need to spend the fish tokens to buy the cards you want. The card written on the upper left of the card is the purchase cost. For example, if you purchase 5 of the following images, you need 3 + 5 + 2 + 2 + 0 = 12 animals.

Place the purchased cards face down in your hand and place the unpurchased cards next to the pile of discoveries as a 'discard pile'.

Next is the ' task phase '. Players who have a common task card in their hand will always read the content and publish it to the field. The revealed cards are a common task for all players, and if you meet the conditions, you will get victory points. Some common task cards allow the player who issued the card to specify the color. Place a cat piece on the card to specify the color so that everyone can see it.

Next, place all the task cards in your hand face down next to the ship board. This is an individual task, and only you can get victory points if you meet the conditions.

Next is the ' Cat Rescue Phase '. You can choose the green rescue card you want to use from the green rescue cards in your hand and put it into play. The rescue card has a picture of 'basket' and 'boots', and the numbers of 'boots' on the issued card are totaled so that the person with the larger number is on the top. Sort. If there are players with the same number, the previously placed pieces will be placed. After that, the order of the cat pieces will be the order of the turn.

The basket represents 'the number of times the cat can be rescued'. There is also a picture of a damaged basket inside, and two damaged baskets are equivalent to one ordinary basket.

To rescue a cat, either discard the rescue card for one basket and throw it into the pile, or flip the basket token at hand and pay the required amount of fish tokens.

If you take the cat tile from the left field, you need 3 fish tokens, and if you take it from the right field, you need 5 fish tokens. Player A pays three fish tokens and rescues a tile from the left field.

The first cat tile can be placed anywhere on the ship board, but it cannot be placed outside the white lines around it or tiled. If there are 'empty squares' or 'mouse' squares left when calculating the score at the end of the game, points will be deducted, so it is necessary to fill them as evenly as possible. Also, if you put cat tiles of the same color together, they form a 'family', and you can get a big score by the number of them.

In addition, there are 7 'sections' on the ship board, and if there is even one space in each section, points will be deducted for each section. The compartments are color-coded in the rule manual and have a small mark on the ship board.

Player C has placed the rescued cat tile.

You can get one normal treasure you like by stacking cat tiles of the same color on the square of the treasure map. The next tile to be placed must be placed with its sides attached to each other.

Player A on the next turn also placed a cat tile and filled the gap with a normal treasure. The rescue phase is over when everyone has finished the rescue. Rescue cards that have not been used will be moved to the discard pile.

Next is the ' rare pick-up phase '. During this phase, you can use the Oshax Card or Treasure Card in your hand. Player A uses the treasure card 'Lost Scroll' to win two normal treasure tiles. Place the cards on the discard pile and immediately place the acquired tiles on the ship board.

Player D uses the treasure card 'Sacred Place' to win rare treasure tiles. Rare treasure tiles are different from normal treasure tiles and will be added as points when the final score is calculated.

This completes all phases and prepares for the next round. Collect all unrescued cat tiles that remain in play and put them in a box. Leave the normal treasure tiles, rare treasure tiles, and shack styles in place.

If you have a basket token that has been used and turned face down, turn it face up.

Advance Vesh's ship to '4' and start the next round. Place the cat tiles again, choose a card, and get an additional 20 fish tokens.

There is an 'as needed card' as a card that benefits you. This is something that can be put into play and used by any player in any phase. Player B used the card 'Nekobue' at any time in his turn to add four tiles from the bag to the field. This is a very useful card if you don't have the tiles you want in the field.

In addition, Player D used the card 'winding machine' at any time. This is a powerful card that allows you to place tiles, ignoring the condition that tiles must be placed side by side with existing tiles. It seems to be a strategy to gradually fill from both ends of the ship.

The Oshax card that can be used in the rare pick-up phase can be used to obtain one of any Oshak style.

After placing the Oshak style on the ship board, choose a cat piece of your favorite color and place it on the Oshak style. This shack style replaces the colored cat tiles that are placed until the end of the game, which is useful for forming a family.

Players filling from around the ship board ...

There are many ways to play, such as players who collect cat tiles of the same color to form a family.

At the end of the fifth round, Vesh's ship arrives at the Isle of Cats and the game is over. Return the ship full of cats and treasures to the city and calculate the score.

Player A, who formed a family with nine blue cat tiles, scored 35 points for the family and 67 points for the assignment cards.

Player B, who said that he filled the squares on the ship board as much as possible, suppressed the deduction and got 68 points.

Player D has a lot of empty space, but he gets 60 points only with the common task card and the individual task card, and wins with a total of 84 points.

When calculating the score, it is convenient to use the attached score sheet.

It took about 3 hours to play, including the preparation time. In the latter half of the year, the number of assignment cards will increase, and you will be wondering which one you should achieve. Although task cards can be a great source of points, there is a dilemma that the cost of rescue will be insufficient if the cost of acquiring task cards is high. It is also recommended that you understand the mechanism of score calculation well and decide your own play style such as 'fill in with cat tiles' and 'achieve task cards'.

'Isle of Cats Complete Japanese' can be purchased at Amazon.co.jp, and the price is 8580 yen including tax.

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