Game: Cat’s Gambit: Queen Aurelia (2025)
Player: 1 . Time: 15 minutes . Age: 10+
Illustrator: Holly Chiu
From the creators of Macaron and Boba Mahjong, we're thrilled to introduce the purr-fect solo game for fans of chess, puzzles, and, of course, cats - Cat's Gambit 2025.
Cat's Gambit is a solo chess puzzle where players strategically place cards representing chess pieces on a 4x4 grid. The objective is to play all the cards without getting checkmated by the four Cat-kens (Cat Krakens). Each turn, a card is placed, continuing until an end-game condition is triggered. If the queen is placed in check twice, the game ends immediately. Otherwise, at the game's conclusion, points are tallied to determine the player's royal ranking within the majestic kingdom of cats.
Crowdfunding: Funded on Backerkit (April 2025)
Why You'll Love Cat's Gambit:
🧩 Perfect blend of chess strategy and puzzle-solving
🐾 Engaging solo gameplay that’s quick to learn, but challenging to master
🐱 A must-have for cat lovers and chess enthusiasts alike
Rules (2025): English
** Oops! The printed rulebook has a tiny typo in the Components section.
Other link: BGG
PLAYTHROUGH AND REVIEWS (2023 Limited Edition)
Cat’s Gambit Rules & Playthrough from Helle Iversen of Game4LifeBG
NO TIME to play Board games? Try these SOLO (Cat’s Gambit 2:00)