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 competitive mode, the player who knocks down the structure loses.
In cooperative mode, the goal is to go as far as possible.
AWARDS:
2023 - SWISS Gamers Award Family
2023 - Major Fun Award
2022 - 1st prize Alchimie in Toulouse
2022 - 1st prize Pari Ludique in Paris
2022 - Special Jury Prize at the FLIP in Parthenay
—description from the publisher
- Better version of Jenga with more player agency
- Cheerful theme with tense, exciting moments
- Simple setup and quick to teach
- Duet of luck and planning can feel swingy
- The cat theme may be punny rather than thematic for some players
- Cats managing an electric network
- Islands with cats
- Jenga
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dexterity / spatial balancing — Players install posts and balance components to avoid tipping.
- dice placement — Dice rolls determine which district or post a player can place.
- Dice-driven placement — Dice rolls determine which district or post a player can place.
- Resource / post management — Choosing colors and sizes of posts to maximize stability.
- Resource management — Choosing colors and sizes of posts to maximize stability.
- Stacking and Balancing — Players install posts and balance components to avoid tipping.
- Tensile tension / cat tokens — Black cubes add tension via cat tokens that can destabilize structures.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is a great game to just learn and start playing very quickly and get a lot of replay-ability with this one.
- I believe this is just a much better version of Jenga. No offense to Jenga.
- The funnest part of this whole game is just seeing how the race ends up.
- Magical Athlete is a wild ride.
References (from this video)
- Ties to familiar Jenga-style tension with a better twist
- Accessible dexterity-driven gameplay
- Limited thematic depth due to dexterity focus
- May favor steady hands over strategy in some sessions
- Jenga
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- abstract_theme — Block-stacking with minimal thematic backdrop to emphasize dexterity and balance.
- dexterity — Physical skill with block manipulation that affects tower stability and tension.
- Stacking and Balancing — Physical skill with block manipulation that affects tower stability and tension.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- These are my top 10 Udemy board games
- for number ten, I have Bus, a wacky but mean worker placement game.
- For number nine, I have Scythe, an engine building game.
- For number eight, I have Necoima, a much better version of Jenga.
- For number seven, I have Tea Garden, a hand management game with beautiful artwork.
- For number six, I have Mountain Goats, a push your luck racing game.
- For number five, I have Rebel Princess, a trick-T game with asymmetric abilities.
- For number four, I have Andromeda's Edge, a worker placement game, but with a lot of things going on, but it's so much fun.
- For number three, I have Wingspan. You guys know what this is at this point.
- For number two, I have Distilled, where you're making whiskey in this game.
- for number one, I have STI, where you're trying to find extraterrestrial life.
- And this game is beautiful.