Monday, June 02, 2008

#99: Max MauseSchreck

Max MauseSchreck (Cat & Mouse)
  • designer: uncredited
  • publisher: Ravensburger
  • date: 2001
  • BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/5.6
  • age: 4+
  • # of players: 2-4
  • print status: in print
  • cost: $19.99
Yep, that's a big honkin' block of Swiss cheese sitting in the middle of your gaming table... and there are hidden passageways that you access through one of the holes in the top of the block. Pretty cool, eh?

Beyond that, there's not much to Cat & Mouse (which I know by the German name, Max MauseSchreck). To quote Bob the Tomato: "You roll your dice, you move your mice. Nobody gets hurt." (Actually, Bob is talking about Mousetrap, which will NOT appear on this list, but the quote applies here.) The various spaces direct you to take cheese pieces, lose cheese pieces, climb one of the ladders & jump into the cheese, or relocate Max (the cat).

Whenever Max ends his turn on the same space as a player, he takes away a piece of cheese - and Max moves after every players turn! (Avoiding Max is pretty much the key to winning the game.) Once a player gathers five pieces (which make a cheese wheel), they win the game.

Why in the world would I include such a simple roll'n'move on a list like this? Well, much like the aforementioned Balloon Lagoon, it's fun. It's reasonably short (with 2 or 3 players - with 4 it can drag just a bit) and kids love to play it.

My 3 year old can play this one with a bit of help, so it makes a good bridge game between siblings of different ages.
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1 comment:

  1. Tom Vasel4:49 PM

    I'm going to comment on each of these games as Mark posts them, since I'm a big fan of kids games (don't have nearly as many, though!).

    This one has a tremendously neat mechanic, which is why I bought it after playing. My daughters loved the theme, the sliding mice - and it looks neat on the table.

    However, the roll-and-move can be frustrating - but not so much for me - but rather my kids! One day I played against my daughter and beat her five times in a row. I wasn't trying to, and she became increasingly more unhappy, declaring her dislike of the game after five losses.

    Now of course, she'll still play the game (perhaps she's forgotten the losing streak), but I wish it had more than just a neat mechanic.

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