Cat-a-comb

About this board game

Cat-a-comb is a two-player strategy game that takes about 15 minutes, challenging you to stack cats in the right places across a 3×3 grid.

Each player takes six cat cubes in either black or white. The board is formed from nine tiles: three brown, three white, and three black. Before play begins, three neutral brown cubes are placed on one tile of each color, and the other player takes the first turn.

On your turn, choose between two important actions. You can place one of your cats from your reserve onto a neutral cat or an opposing cat that is sitting directly on a tile, creating a stack of two cats. Alternatively, you can take a stack from a tile and distribute its cats across adjacent spaces.

When distributing a stack, place its bottommost cat onto an adjacent space, then place the next cat adjacent to the one just placed. If the stack contains a third cat, place it adjacent to the second. Even a single cat can be treated as a stack, giving every move the potential to reshape the board.

Careful planning is essential because two cats of the same color can never sit directly on top of one another. Your turn also cannot end with a stack taller than three cats, so every placement and distribution must respect the height limit.

• Two-player gameplay designed for approximately 15 minutes
• Nine tiles arranged in a 3×3 grid
• Stacking and adjacent-space distribution mechanics
• Two different victory conditions

In Cat-a-comb, you win at the end of your turn by having one of your cats on top of every tile of one color, or by having a cat on top of three stacks that are each three cats high. Decide when to build, when to move, and how to turn the growing stacks to your advantage.