Without overthinking it, I did not consider myself a ‘puzzler’. Jigsaw puzzles have never interested me, and I am limited by my lack of abstract understanding. But as I write this review of the puzzle Cats & Boxes (published by SmartGames) – and as I ponder my view of myself – I have to adjust my opinion. I like puzzles, as long as they’re packaged in a fun way.
A while ago, based on the recommendation of the Big Dice, I played Gamewright’s puzzle game Dogpile. At first I thought I would find a “simple” puzzle game involving stacking colored dogs stupid, but … the game really grabbed me! The game sat on the table for a long time so you could solve a few puzzles at any time.
I expected the same effect from Cats & Boxes. Nice in-between puzzles, but with (even nicer) putting cats in boxes. The game has some set puzzle pieces with boxes (and holes between them) on them. For each puzzle, you must place the cats differently on your board and place the boxes in a starting position. Then, in as few moves as possible, you must place all the boxes over the cats. You may move the pieces and move them freely, but you may not move the cats and pieces (except the boxes) may not be placed on top of the cats.
The result is a fun game that challenges you to puzzle cats into boxes as efficiently as possible, without taking back! The theme is really the uniqueness of the game and is well incorporated into the puzzle.
Compared to other animal puzzle games like Dogpile and CatStax (despite the puzzle mechanics being substantially different from these games) it falls slightly short for me in that the variety compared to these other puzzle games is slightly less. The hundreds of puzzle variations of Cats in Boxes are challenging and creative, but you are always working with the same pieces. As a result, the puzzles tend to resemble each other more quickly. Like other SmartGames games, fortunately there are additional tasks to download from their website.
Nevertheless, the game is definitely a fun addition for the avid puzzler – it will leave you wanting more animal puzzle games. So Cats in Boxes is a smart game from SmartGames! 😻
