Nekojima

In Nekojima, we play the role of electricians of high-voltage lines. In our work we will be disturbed by other specialists and nosy cats that like to hang on the cables. The installation of all apparatus is done without any safeguards, so this often leads to many accidents. I wonder what OSHA has to say about this?

Gameplay

Although my introduction was slightly humorous this is really what we will be doing in the game. We take two dice, we roll them and it will tell us where to place the sticks. If any color comes out, we first have to choose the field on which we want to mount our cables. If the result is a dagger, then the players on our right choose one of the fields of the city. I associate the dagger with betrayal and the choices of our friends (or former friends) are also associated with this foul act.

We then draw a cube from a bag, which will tell us what color line we have to place. The lines vary in length and the height of the sticks. Are your hands shaking already? Remember we will still need to install them.

Later we place the poles on selected fields of the city and hope that our work will not go to waste. That is, in short, we do not collapse the entire structure. Because the sticks can be laid on the ground or on other previously built ones. Everything will be connected and it will look a bit like our surge protector strip at our computer to which we have connected anything and no one wanted to do the organizing for a few years. A familiar situation?

When placing cables, however, we need to remember a few rules:

We can’t reverse the poles. They can’t do breakdancing.

The cables can’t touch other cables and we can’t touch them either.

The cables can’t stick out of the city area.

And the thing that requires a VAR. Because we can’t twist the cables around the poles. Well we can because no one is going to check it, right?

If a black cube is drawn then we pass it to another worker (preferably we reciprocate to a friend who has done it before) to place a cat in his turn. The cats are very diverse and some will not be easy for us to work with. Fortunately, these darling creatures fall on 4 paws. Well, unless they land on another line… then suddenly you can feel that your neighbor has started a holiday barbecue….

Summary

Hey but what do you mean it’s over? Because this is going to be a quick review and it doesn’t require discussing individual elements and counting euro points. Because Nekojima is just good fun. We’re stacking those poles, our hands are shaking, everything’s falling into pieces, and the rest of us are laughing. That’s what’s best about this game. I had similar feelings about Yenga, which is gathering dust on my shelf, but we don’t play it anymore because we don’t want to ruin our table. Maybe it’s a bit of such a trivial reason but very true. But coming back to the cats and the fact that they dangle everything, Nekojima is a thrilling adventure in which there is only one loser, and our gentle mischief with the cats and dice is such a very pleasant addition.

Bonus:

But the best thing about this game is the team mode, in which pairs compete to stack the largest tower possible and not lose. Then, while placing the sticks, each person holds a different end and tries in a “relatively calm” way to persuade the other that their plan sucks. Then we’ll also test how strong our relationship is and compete over who gets to sleep on the couch and who gets to sleep in the comfy bed. Too bad my couch is not a pull-out couch…

[Game provided by Luck Duck Games]