Nekojima - Game Review

Title: Nekojima

Designed By: David Carmona and Karen Nguyen

Art By: Gilles Warmoes

Published By: Unfriendly Game

Released: 2023

Player Count: 1-5

Time to Play: 15-30 Minutes

Ages: 7+

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Overview:

Nekojima is a ridiculously cute and surprisingly tricky dexterity game about running electricity through the Island of Cats. No, not that Isle of Cats—this is a totally different island with its own feline-based challenges. Your goal is to connect power lines using poles and wires without letting them touch... all while a very curious cat might hop onto your creation and send it tumbling. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’ll test both your planning and your steady hands.

I played through it solo, live on youtube and instagram if you want to check it out!

What's purr-ty cool:

Quick and Challenging

Nekojima is one of those games that’s easy to pull out when you’ve got a short window to play or want to squeeze in a few quick rounds between heavier games. Games start out fast—mostly because someone usually knocks over the structure pretty quickly—but as your skills improve, so does the length of your builds. There’s more strategy here than you might expect. Poles come in different heights, wires in different lengths, and each round you’ll pull a cube that tells you what color wire to use. You can then strategize on what piece to pick, so you have to think about when to go use tall or short poles, and how to manage the limited pieces left in your pool, knowing what you might have to connect on the board a few turns down the road. As the board fills up, it gets harder to find good spots that follow the rules—especially since wires can never touch.

Modes for All Types of Players

One of the things I really like about Nekojima is how flexible it is depending on who you’re playing with. You can go head-to-head if your group loves competition, but there’s also a cooperative mode if someone isn’t as comfortable with dexterity games. The solo mode was a fun surprise too. You don’t see many dexterity games that even have a solo mode, and this one plays really smoothly with just a few tweaks to the co-op rules. The game is very forgiving in terms of group vibe—it’s perfect for players who won’t get too salty if the whole structure falls down near the end. Because let’s be real: that’s going to happen, it's part of the game. So if you have a game group that laughs when the Jenga tower falls and wants to try their hand at something a bit more clever, Nekojima is a great choice.

Solid Components and Great Table Presence

The production quality here is really solid. The poles are made of real wood, the wires are thick and flexible, and the cats—though made of cardboard—have some real heft to them. It’s the kind of game that people are going to notice when it’s on the table. And even when everything falls apart (which it will), it’s still satisfying to look at. That combo of tactile pieces and visual appeal goes a long way.

Lots of Challenges in One Box

If you want to mix things up or add more challenge, Nekojima includes a bunch of alternate rule sets. The birds’ nest mode makes it so you can’t stack more than two poles on top of each other, which gets difficult fast once the board fills up. There’s also a tall-building mode where you have to focus on height but can only use a limited number of poles touching the ground. And then there’s the hard mode, which doesn’t allow any wire contact at all—if a wire even touches another one for a second, game over. That one’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s a great way to level up the challenge if you’ve played a bunch.

The Cats Add a Whole Other Layer

And just when you think you’ve got things under control, a black cube shows up and suddenly you have to place a cat. The cats are placed on wires that match the color of the piece you’re using that turn, and they’re not exactly lightweight. If your structure isn’t stable, that cat is probably going to bring the whole thing down. It’s funny, it’s frustrating in the best way, and it adds one more thing to plan for when you’re already stretched thin.

The cat's meow:

"Just when the humans think they’ve got it all figured out... I jump on the wires. Instant drama. 10/10 would topple again." - Solo the Spokescat

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Disclosure: Pudgy Cat Games was provided a copy of this game in exchange for a review, however, this review reflects the honest thoughts of the author.