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Send your cat crews on daring missions to obtain the coveted “Golden Balls of Yarn”, masterpieces by the legendary artist Maximo Kattelan now on display in the mysterious museum. It’s your cat crews’ job to obtain them, but be careful! Other crews will try to loot your finds, so use traps to mislead them.
In Cat Burglars players take turns in clockwise order, performing one action per turn. They can choose from one of five available actions:
Recruit two cats
Form a cat crew
Activate a cat crew
Secure the loot
Infiltrate
By recruiting cats, they form cat crews that will try to secure the Golden Balls of Yarn. Larger cat crews have a higher chance of securing the loot, but they take time to form. By infiltrating cat crews of other players, players might be able to snatch some of their Golden Balls of Yarn before they are secured. But beware of the traps the other players might set for you!
When a player collects eight Golden Balls of Yarn, they win, and the game ends.
—description from the publisher
- Mechanics are convoluted and not well explained
- The bluffing aspect feels empty and does not add meaningful depth
- Feels like there is too much to do for a filler game
- Not recommended by reviewer
- Cat burglary, deception, and group assembly as a bluffing race to complete yarn captures
- A playful, cat-themed heist in a cozy, cartoonish setting where cats of various colors compete to steal golden yarn balls.
- Expository with live-play commentary style; emphasis on bluff and misdirection more than strict rules
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — On a turn a player picks from five distinct actions to perform (e.g., take cats, draw from deck, or form crews).
- Betting and Bluffing — Players hide a golden yarn beneath a pile; opponents may guess color or call bluff by discarding color cards; resolution depends on correctness and cards shown.
- bluff-driven scoring — Revealed or called bluffs affect scoring by awarding or denying the golden yarn balls depending on board state and players' cards.
- bluffing and catch/resolve bluff — Players hide a golden yarn beneath a pile; opponents may guess color or call bluff by discarding color cards; resolution depends on correctness and cards shown.
- Hand Management — Each player starts with five cards and must manage them across the round, choosing actions to optimize collection and bluff opportunities.
- Hidden information and deduction — Blue and red color cues, color-matching, and trap mechanics rely on hidden information and inference during play.
- set/crew building (cat crews) — Players assemble crews by placing matching color cats; building larger crews unlocks additional play options but requires more cards to add to the crew.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- There's just no game here really.
- It's essentially a folding pattern.
- There are all different color cats in the pile.
- There’s just it feels like there’s so much to do about so little.
- I have to give this one a five out of 10.
- I really can't recommend Catburglers.