Viva Mouse!

About this board game

Viva Mouse! is a family board game for 2–4 players that takes about 30 minutes to play. Players advance their mice around the track, choosing when to keep moving toward distant, more valuable cheese goals and when to stop safely.

The farther a mouse travels, the more cheese points its goal is worth. But every move carries risk: the cat is pursuing the mice, and any mouse it catches is removed from the game. Success depends on balancing the temptation of a bigger reward against the danger of waiting too long.

Movement is controlled by a die with sides showing 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Rolling a 1 also moves the cat, making those results especially tense. During its initial movement, the cat advances only one space, but after it has gone once around the track, it speeds up and moves two spaces.

• Advance mice toward goals worth different amounts of cheese.
• Choose between safer progress and riskier, higher-value goals.
• Watch the cat, which moves on rolls of 1 and removes caught mice.
• Adapt when the cat speeds up and the game approaches its conclusion.

That change in the cat’s speed creates a dramatic late-game race. Early turns allow mice to make progress, while the cat’s faster movement means the game is almost over once it has completed a circuit.

Released in 2002, Viva Mouse! offers an accessible risk-and-reward challenge for families and groups. Its simple die-driven movement and clear cheese-point goals make every decision easy to understand, while the pursuing cat keeps the race exciting from start to finish.