Cat Lady: the app

A thread came up on one of the board gamer groups on Facebook where someone asked for a list of board games which have good implementations as game apps, and Cat Lady came up on that list.  We had to check that out.

The graphics were perfect, with some cute f/x and music added, and it was easy to get up and running.  Just hit Play then Classic Game.  This defaults to a single computer opponent, but you can add up to three.  It also allows a second human player (and possibly more, we had no reason to check).

Against the computer player, the game goes very quickly.  It's over before you know it, and since I tend to pick easy cats to feed (worth lower points) and forget to get toys, I lose about 75% of the time.  It all flows nicely: check your cards and see what you need, maybe feed a cat or two, then swipe some new cards into your hand.  The app organizes the cards very nicely and does all the calculations s you can see that your pick added 5 points, or that your opponent is 7 points ahead.  That is very useful, and every screen shows exact point breakdowns, so you can't help but learn the scoring rules by playing the app.  You can even look at your cats while the other player is taking cards.  But before you're ready, the deck has run out and you get one last chanced to Feed Your Cats.

For two human players, we totally lost track of whose turn it was, as we each had things to do, screens to see.  We settled into a pace where we each start our turn by viewing cats then taking cards.  If we clicked back and forth to view the other players cards then whose turn is it?  That was messy.  There really needs to be some big arrow or glow that shows which player is currently active.  But I think it was designed where you would actually hand the device to the other player.  Then they could do anything they want and hand it back when done.  We're so used to playing games together, though.  It needs that active player indicator.

Update: we did playing by handing the tablet back and forth, which made more sense for the app, but a few times we gripped the tablet wrong and hit the OFF button or the Options icon. So that's not perfect.

What worked best for us was to team up against the computer player.  That way, we could talk about what to do and do it together.  We lost almost every time, but it was enjoyable along the way.

Forget playing against two or three computer opponents: I came up dead last every time.  We tried it together ... dead last every time.  So that's not great for the ego.  I looked all over for a difficulty setting but did not see it.  I suppose if we keep at it, we will be much better Cat Lady players, though.

I don't know what the Challenge Mode is supposed to do.  It looks the same as Classic, and I saw no difference in rules or outcomes.

There were a few slight differences between the app and the physical card game, but they turned out to be rules we didn't see when learning the card game.  Like scoring multiple sets of toys, and not dealing a new Stray Cat card after adopting one.  The app had it right both times.

There is a very cute and clever screen of achievements: it's a cat playroom with about 20 things blacked out.  As you reach those milestones, they get colored in with more cat stuff.

We really enjoyed this one.  Unfortunately, the app would not install on Anne's tablet because it was "written for an older version of Android."  She really wanted to be able to practice while I was at work.