Nekojima

• Designers: David Carmona, Karen NNguyen
• Publisher: Unfriendly Games
• Players: 1-5
• Age: 7+
• Time: 15-30 minutes
• Review copy provided by publisher
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3Ms399x

In Nekojima, “The Island of Cats” in Japan, an electricity network is developing to supply the various lively districts of the island. The installation of electric poles becomes more complex due to the narrowness of the territory and its curious population of cats strolling on the cables. Nekojima is a wooden game of skill and dexterity in which you have to keep an entire installation in balance. Players take turns placing or stacking denchuu — 電柱, or electrical poles — respecting the locations without any hanging cables touching. Be careful not to be the one to bring down the structure. This game requires reflection, concentration and skill. In competition, the player who knocks down the structure loses. In co-operation, the goal is to go as far as possible.

To set up the game, place all the Denchuu (utility poles) on the table, they are of three colors as determined by the string wires between them.  The colored cubes are thrown in the bag.  The round board, split up into 4 districts, is placed on the table.  The level tracker board is also placed nearby. There are two modes of play: cooperative and competitve.  Obviously, choose and agree on one mode to play.

The active player rolls the two district dice – there is one face for each of the four districts, one wild card face, and one face that lets the player on your right choose a district.  Once the districts are set for the turn, draw a cube out of the bag.  If it is a black cube, discard it and keep drawing until you get a colored cube.  

Once you get a colored cube, take a Denchuu with a cable of that color and then place it directly on the board or stacked upon previously placed Denchuu.   You are only allowed to hold the Denchuu by the wood pieces, never by the cable.  You must place it right side up, the cable cannot touch other cables, and you cannot move any previously placed Denchuu.  Check to see if your placement is valid – i.e. the cables just placed do not touch the ground or other cables.

Now, it’s time to deal with the black cubes that were drawn (if any):

Cooperative mode – the active player must hang a cat on a cable matching the colored one used this turn. Only one cat per cable. It cannot touch the ground. Denchuu poles or other cables.  If it is impossible to place the Cat as there are no valid cables, keep it until your next turn.

Competitive mode: give the Cat to any of your opponents who must legally place it following the rules above.

Finally, place the colored cube on the Level Tracker.  If cats were successfully hung, their black cubes are also placed in the tracker.  Your Level increases for every 4 cubes placed. 

The game ends when the structure collapses. In cooperative mode, check to see what level the team was able to obtain – with a full victory coming with the completion of Level 7. In competitive mode, the person who caused the structure to fall is the loser and everyone else wins.

My thoughts on the game

Nekojima is an actual place, and it is apparently one of many “cat islands” that can be found in Japan.  Here, it is the setting for this dexterity game.  As you would expect, it definitely helps to have steady hands to try to get the Denchuu in the right places and then to be able to hang a cat on a power line without pulling things over.

There are two different modes of play, but I must prefer the cooperative mode.  In part because I’m the one with the shakiest hands in my group – so if we play competitively – guess who gets all the cats to hang?  That aside, I also prefer the conversation and discussion over where to place the Denchuu and cats that happens more organically in the cooperative version.

The game is definitely beautiful, and it’s always fun to watch the jumble of posts and string grow upwards from the board.  Things are pretty stable on our regular gaming table, though an errant knee jostle could spell doom for the game.  We ended up playing most recently on my pool table, and this was perfect – there’s pretty much no way to jostle that!

Is there a lot of strategy?  Umm, not really.   Roll dice, draw cubes, do what they say.   Sure, I guess you have to choose which particular Denchuu you want to use and how you’re going to place it on the table.  Also, it depends on which mode you are playing.  If you are playing cooperatively, you’re looking for stable placements that leave room for cats to be hung.  If you’re playing competitively, you’re trying to generate placements that are less stable, and trying to force people to play cats on lines that don’t have a lot of room – or that are so tight that even the weight of a little cat is enough to pull it over.  

Either way, the game doesn’t take long.  It’s fun while it’s on the table, and it looks great. A perfect game as a filler, closer or something to occupy the cousins with.  Thus far, it’s been the sort of game that people ask to play again as soon as the poles tumble down!

• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3Ms399x

Until your next appointment,

The Gaming Doctor