Pyramid Review
Felix: The Cat in the Sack
Published by Rio Grande Games
Designed by Friedemann Friese
Rules by Henning Kröpke & Friedemann Friese
Graphics & layout by Maura Kalusky
Full-color boxed set with 55 cards (50 cards in five colors, four mouse cards, & one cat in the sack card), one wooden start player marker, 76 plastic mice/money tokens (68 black & eight green), & rule booklet; $14.95
Rio Grande Games has released plenty for animal lovers of late. Designer Michael Schacht alone is responsible for Zooloretto, Coloretto, and Aquaretto. However, Felix: The Cat in the Sack could be for cat fanciers or cat haters, depending how one spins it.
The object of the game is to have the most points at the end of the ninth round.
Three to five players use mice as bait to lure unsuspecting cats. Once captured, they're gathered in a sack (which hints at sociopathic tendencies, but it's hardly the strangest metaphor for a game) and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Each player has the same 10 cards consisting of cats (the nice ones are worth points while the scruffy losers have a negative value), a rabbit (worth nothing), and a pair of dogs. A random card is removed from each player's hand before play; not knowing what was discarded makes it harder to anticipate results.
Five common cards occupy the middle of the table, four mice cards (labeled two, three, four, and six), and one "cat in the sack" card. Mice are the currency in this game (they're also called points) and are represented by . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: August 15, 2008
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