CATastrophe: A Game of 9 Lives (and Paws Out, Claws Out expansion)

About

2-6 Players | 30-45 minutes

Category: Animals, Card Game, Fighting, Humor

Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Player Elimination, Take That

CATastrophe: A Game of 9 Lives, designed by Josh Lee Noris and published by The Original Sasquatch, is a game as spontaneous and unexpected as cats themselves. Players start with 9 lives. The last cat standing is crowned champion!

This game is a combination of cards, dice, and quick challenges. It’s full of cat puns and features the art of some of the internet’s most famous cats including Lil BUB, Cole and Marmalade, and Simon the Sphynx. One second you’re slapping down attack and curiosity cards, the next you're rolling a die and playing fun catastrophic mini-games to determine your destiny. Power Cats can give you a strong one time advantage, while Magical Yarn Balls can be used to alter your fate. Beware of the villain, the Grim Reapurr, who is plotting your untimely demise and attempting to be the sole victor!

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Game Development

• Content Design

• Editing

PROJECT OVERVIEW

I was a co-developer on this project along with John Brieger (Brieger Creative). We worked together in a variety of areas to improve the useability of the game, fine-tune card effects, and provide engaging content in the form of mini-games. A lot of work was also put into testing, editing, and working with a graphics team member to make the rulebook as clear as possible.

Early on, much of my work was focused on streamlining the main deck cards. Play tests indicated the card text and the resolution order was often unclear to players. Through many iterations, the card and rulebook text were greatly improved. Card effects were revised and cut as needed. Additional work went into exploring possible new card types.

The focus of the game for players turned out to be the mini-games. Working with the designer and my co-developer, I took the lead in creating and assessing the game’s 104 mini-games.

I also contributed many cat puns to the game. It was a job I seemed purr-fect for.

Project Highlight: Making Manic Mini-Games

CATastrophe has 104 total CATastrophe cards between the base game and expansion, with most of these being created or heavily revised during the development process. Each CATastrophe card is its own unique mini-game that plays in about a minute. While made to be quick to process and play, there is a lot of thought and work put in making each mini-game exciting.

These mini-games needed to be tuned to provide the correct incentives for players. Appropriate rewards and consequences raise the stakes and make the challenges meaningful. Certain initial rewards, like the winner just gaining 1 life, was proven to be ineffective as there are times where such rewards were not desirable (such as players already having the maximum number of lives).

Mini-games needed to be played quickly to keep the pace of the game moving and ensure playtime wasn’t excessive. Text and infographics were made to be concise so players could learn the game fast and completely. Mini-games with long runtimes were cut or modified.

We really wanted to maximize the value of each mini-game and minimize the need to redraw a new CATastrophe card based on player count. We also knew a common player count would be 2 players. For these reasons, we made nearly every mini-game work well at 2 or more players.

As a whole, the mini-games had to provide a lot of variety to keep players surprised and engaged. The challenges included elements of luck, betting, strategy, bluffing, dexterity, speed, performing, social interaction, and more. Physical component interactions were utilized to their fullest. Cards are flipped and dropped, dice are tossed, yarn balls are stacked, and the game box is even used.

PRAISE for CATastrophe: A Game of 9 Lives

“Easily one of my favorite games this year! CATastrophe offers wild, interesting, and hilarious choices that continue to earn its place at my table.” - Brandon Ohmie, Tangerine.Games

“CATastrophe is a party game everyone will want in their collection! …It’s one of the best party games I’ve played to date.” - Derek Perderson, Woosung Boardgames