Dogs are technically the most popular pets in the world, but cats also have a big following. The🌳se strange, furry creatures have captured the hearts of much of humankind.

Nerdy interests like those this website focuses on are especially likely to be beloved by the sorts of introverts who are likely to find cats endearing, so we thought we'd put together a list of some of the best board games out there that appeal to those who love these fuzzy little monsters.

We begin with one of the strongest games on this list, one that's good for both casual and serious gamers, the tile-laying game Calico. Calico is about creating a quilt in order to attract cats who want to lay on it. This is done by laying out hexagonal tiles in ways that satisfy a variety of interesting patterns in order to score points.

Because of the way tiles are acquired, it's easy to encounter a situation where you want something, only to have it snatched from you. This frustration is a deliberate part of the game, and part of what makes it interesting. While those especially weak to that kind of stress might not have the best time, those who can endure it will be in for some incredibly engaging fun.

Catastrophe is one of many games on this list to cast the players as cats. In it, each player selects a different cat to play as, and, from there, the players proceed to use a variety of cards to eliminate their opponent's nine lives and preserve their own.

As they fall down the track, the grim reaper moves up, so there's no guarantee they'll have nine chances to mess up. Catastrophe cards are regularly drawn, which cause a variety of complicated, and unpredictable, effects. This makes for an incredibly unpredictable game, and a super fun one. The drawing of each new Catastrophe comes with edge-of-your-seat tension.

Boop is a game about placing kittens, and, once y✅ou upgrade them, cats, on a board. Placing kittens and cats tends to push other kittens and cats outward, toward, and, if someone plays right, off the edge of the bed.

Using these piece-placement mechanics, players compete to assemble multiple kittens and, later, cats in a row. In order to do so, must grapple with their opponent's efforts to boop them out of place with their own moves. The result is a highly strategic and engaging game, whose simplicity belies its depth.

Cats are introverted. It's one of the most notable elements of their personalities. Unlike other domesticated animals, they like to be alone, and are likely to reject contact from people they don't know or like. It's fitting, then, that at least one cat-themed game should be strictly single-player, and, on this list, that's Cat Crimes.

Cat Crimes is a set of deduction puzzles that have players use a list of c🔴lues tღo deduce where each cat was sitting at the time of some crime (each is a crime a cat might commit, such as knocking over a plant). With these clues, players should be able to deduce where every cat was sitting, and, therefore, who was correctly positioned for the crime. There are forty puzzles in this game, which means you'll get a bit of mileage out of it, though you'll still eventually run out.

Most of the games on this list are about cats in general, but there's room for stuff that showcases one specific cat. In this case, it's the lovable little cartoon cat known as Pusheen. Originating from a comic strip by Claire Belton and Andrew Duff, this adorable cartoon cat has been merchandised to kitty hell and back, with this game being just one of many, many, many products associated with it.

The gameplay itself is some very simple set collection, where players grab cards they can assemble into snapshots that are worth points. It's not complicated, but it works for the simple thing that it is, and provides occasion to enjoy a ton of cute art.

There are quite a few card games that are essentially reskins of Apples 🌌to Apples. In such games, players are given a hand full of response cards. Each round, the table is given a prompt card, and each player mu🥂st select the best response card from their hand to match, with the player whose response is judged best receiving a point.

The various versions of this game use a variety of things as their responses and prompts. In Name That Kitty, the prompts are names a cat might have, and the responses are pictures of cats. Unlike many other games in its genre, this one isn't primarily aimed at humor. Rather, its main purpose is to serve as an excuse to look at pictures of cats, and it's a pretty darn good one. If you are looking for a game that will have you looking at tons of pictures of cats, this game is really going to give you what you're looking for.

Here at TheGamer, we tend to recommend games with engaging mechanics, and shy away from basic, pure-luck games about rolling dice and moving around a board. Most of those games don't have much going for them, but some of them have elements that manage to set them apart from the crowd, and create something entertaining.

This game is an example of that. Though it is just as luck-based as others of its genre, the relatively complicated mechanism it uses to add tension is fun enough that it's an alright game regardless. As you play this game, the cats you control will be in constant danger of being sent back to start by a roving, electronic pug, which physically moves around the board and uses your cats' spring-loaded stands to launch them upward. This can happen at almost any time, and the pug being triggered is always a ton of nerve-wracking fun.

FAQ

What is a cat's favorite thing to play with?

Entertainment that would be of interest to actual cats isn't really the subject of this list, but if you're looking for something along those lines, it's easy to mesmerize most cats with dangling string or laser pointers. Cats can also enjoy a wide variety of other toys, which allow them to act out their predatory, social, or other urges. There is, unfortunately, no known way to get a cat to play a board game with you.