Kyoto No Neko is a cute game where players play as Kittens.

Title: Kyoto No Neko

Year Published: 2024

Designer: Cédric Millet

Publisher: Matagot

Players: 2-4

Game Time: ~35 minutes

Set-up Time: ~5 minutes

Ages: 8+

Theme: Cats exploring Kyoto

Mechanisms:

How to win: Have the most medals at the end of the game.

Game Description

Players are kittens who explore the modern-day city of Kyoto, Japan through a series of independent, replayable scenarios. Kittens will evolve, developing their skills and gaining the ability to explore new parts of the map by climbing on bushes and rooftops.

How to play Kyoto No Neko

Learn how to play Kyoto No Neko in a quick and concise way!

Main Mechanisms

There isn’t really a main mechanism that dominates the game. There is a touch of set collection and movement points but nothing that jumps out.

USP

I don’t know of a game that tries to simulate a kitten growing up. I’m also not sure why Kyoto was picked as the setting. It’s a beautiful place but I didn’t see cats around when I was in Japan.

Theme

The kitten part of the game is thematic if you allow yourself to have a cartoon stye look at how cats live their lives.

Setup & Rulebook

The setup is OK, You have to put the 40 paws on the board which is fine. I find that I don’t like to do that until after I taught the game so I can show the paws as examples.

Components & Artwork

The card and wooden components are nice. The rubbery kittens are very cute and alongside the standees look good on the table.

The standees don’t all stand very well sadly, the little tabs fall out of the bottom easily on the bikes.

The art is cute. I would have liked something 3D to help point out the hedges and roofs.

Ease of Teaching

The game is easy to teach. You can explain the options for each paw token they flip over as they go.

Similar Games

It reminds me a lot of A Dog’s Life which was the subject of one of my first How to Play videos!

Kyoto No Neko Review

Positives

Simple gameplay.

A very cute and fun theme.

The scenarios mix things up a bit and can be mixed and matched for added replayability.

The standees and kitten toys make the game look good on the table.

Negatives

The rulebook is average.

Some elements on the main board are not as obvious as they need to be.

Kyoto No Neko Round-Up

A very fun and cute game with an interesting theme you’ll want to play just to see it on the table.

Rating

I give it 6/10