There are 4 different colors you can play (green, yellow, blue and red) with red being the trump suit. That is, if you play a 7 (rank) and a Crosswalk (suit) to the first trick, you’ll replace either the rank or the suit for the second trick, but the other will remain – you will be playing either a 7 or a Crosswalk card to the second trick. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Cat in the Box, for better or worse, does both of these things, which can really blitz a new player if you’re not careful. One of my favorite things to do before Gen Con is sit down with a number of folks and just ask what games they’re excited about and what they’re looking forward to.

But what if my 9, which would be any color I want it to be, gets taken out by a red 2 because red is always trump? The problem so far: US publisher Bezier Games didn’t have a European sales licence, so the game was only available in small numbers.We have to talk about this for a minute before we can begin to understand Bezier Games’ Cat in the Box.

You won’t need them, though I suppose if you wanted to ditch the boards and just take the cards for portability, these would save you a little bit of space. I usually dump any card that I have at least three of; heaven help me if I end up with four of the same number in a given round, especially if it’s not the high card. That is an interesting way of neutering the advantage that comes with going first in a trick-taking game.I also found the lack of wrap-around on the board very limiting – the game would be more interesting, in my opinion, if wrap-around was allowed. Cat in the Box was designed by Muneyuki Yokouchi and published by Bezier Games, with illustrations by Osamu Inoue. I would add the caveat that I’d not recommend this at all for gamers who are not intimately familiar with trick taking games. Enter designer Muneyuki Yokouchi and publisher Bézier Games with the new deluxe edition of 2020’s Cat in the Box, a quantum trick-taking game that throws me a lifeline.

At some point, you won’t be able to continue to connect to your previously-claimed cards on the board.Let’s say Jenn plays the 5 of diamonds, which they chuck into the middle of the table with resignation. It’s definitely a way to easily paradox yourself if you do it too early, since you might get stuck with other players trying to force you to play cards of that color to try and trap you.