Cats and Dragons: They're Basically the Same Right? - Games with a Cat/Dragon Theme

One difficult thing about waiting for a package to come in the mail is tracking it as it comes. As I am writing this post (which will come out a week after I finish this up), I'm currently waiting on my package with Weirdwood Manor to come in the mail. With the advent of modern tech, I'm able to follow the exact location (or close to it) of where my package is with the tracking number that I've been given by the post and it sometimes feels like a lesson in frustration.

See, I saw that the package was in my city on Monday, which would lend one to think that it would be delivered on Monday. However, be it through some crazy circumstance or fantastic government inefficiency, the package has since been transferred to another facility outside my city to then be delivered back to me in my city on the morrow. It's dumb how inefficient this is and while I know that I'll just have to wait a single day for the package, it's still frustrating to know that it's so close and yet so far away.

Maddeningly so.

I know that it's not really going to be that much of a big difference in the overall scheme of things as I'll be able to play the game as soon as I get it in my collection as many times I want. But I'm still excited about a new game that's been anticipated for such a long time now. It's a new experience and something that I'm absolutely looking forward to playing, especially since it was something that I spent money on over a year ago. To have it so close and yet not be able to play it is really frustrating to me.

Anyways, after digressing with my personal thoughts about the failings of the postal system and the irritation at the intricacies of a system that I probably have no idea how it works, but knowing that because it's government, it's probably the least efficient way to get things done (I speak from personal experience of working with government systems and people on a regular basis) and I just have to accept this. With that being said, I thought today I'd do a fun theme to look at:

Dragons and Cats

I once heard a dragon basically compared to a cat: they're both fiercely protective of their things that they deem "theirs," they tend to be capricious and quick to anger and they both tend to have high amounts of pride when being written about.

It's become a running joke with my wife and I that I'm building a collection of cats and dragons. I have quite a few games in my collection that fit that theme and I thought that it might be fun to look over some games that either have a cat or dragon theme to them. As they're fairly similar within my head, I'm happy to go over some games that have our reptilian and feline friends prominently displayed in various games and game covers.

I feel like this one might be a bit of a softball, but Calico is one of the first games that comes to mind when I'm talking about cats. The game itself is built around the mechanics of cozy, puzzle-based tile laying where players compete to not only build the best quilt, but also to get the most cats to visit them. There are a ton of various cats that are featured in the game and they all are super cute, making me want to cuddle up with my own cats. Although, just like my own cats at home, the cats of Calico seem to be far more capricious and judgmental than I would like them to be, preferring to sleep on certain patterns and specific numbers or arrangements of those patterns.

Another softball sailing right over the plate, we have Flamecraft, which is one of the games that I have on my 10x10 Challenge for 2024. It's a lighter worker-placement and engine-builder game that is built around artisan dragons working with various shopkeepers to build up reputation in the town. It's light and fun and extremely beautiful on the table with a fantastic presence. There's not too much strategy that's built into the game, but sometimes it's nice ending the evening with a lighter game that you can just enjoy the fantastic dragon-related puns and gorgeous artwork. I personally haven't upgraded my copy of the game with the metal coins, wooden tokens, nor the artisan dragon statuettes, but I've definitely given it some thought, especially with how great they all look.

As I was building this list of cats and dragons and the chaos that they often bring, I remembered that there was one game that I had obtained recently that I had blanked on and it even had the name "cat" in the title: Cat in the Box! It's a really clever trick-taking game that pairs Schrödinger's thought experiment about quantum physics (which I learned later that he actually hated) and a card game. What results is a really interesting and unique card game that has absolutely wonderful cats on the cards not only on those that are played, but also on the observation board to show what has already been noted. It's a great addition to any collection for anyone wanting to build a cat-themed collection!

Not only does Clank! feature a dragon prominently on the front of the board game box, but it has it built into the mechanic of the game itself. Players are thieves attempting to steal into the lair of a dragon and steal treasures, secrets, gold, and artefacts from the lair of the dragon, all while making far too much noise for them to make it out unscathed. The bottom of the board features a "rage meter" where a dragon figure (or hydra, or ape lord, or spider, etc) is placed and slowly increases in anger, representing various attacks that the dragon performs throughout the game. The cards also feature a dragon to represent the dragon's attack and trigger a pull from the bag that player's clank cubes get dropped into, and there's even a great card (Mr. Whiskers) that prominently features a cat on it, but whether the cat is the pet, or the dragon is the pet remains ambiguous. It's a fantastic dungeon crawler and one that I keep coming back to again and again because of how much I've grown to love this game. Plus it's fun to yell "DRAGON ATTACK!" when a card comes up on the dungeon row.

Back to cats, because like the internet, I just can't seem to get enough of them. boop. is an abstract game where players are attempting to line up three separate kittens in a row on a bed. However, each time a kitten is placed on the bed (the board), they push ("boop") all other kittens adjacent (omnidirectionally) around it. There's a mechanic where kittens are upgraded to cats and the goal of the game is to get three sets of three on the board, which presents an interesting challenge to all players. It's clever, cat-themed, and cute; exactly what you want in a cat-themed game.

It's hard to create a list like this without adding Wyrmspan to the list. A game that takes one of the most well-loved (both here on BGG and in the retail world) games (Wingspan) and adds a dragon twist to it? Sign me up. Which I did. Immediately after the game was announced. I love the idea of dragons and the fact that all of the dragons in the game were made up for the game itself with ideas coming from general culture, but being completely unique. It lends itself to the game and gives a sense of wonder and excitement when a new dragon type is revealed that I haven't seen before.

While I could go on and on about different games with dragons and cats (there are so many and I'll probably revisit this on a later date with more games) because the internet is obsessed with both, I'll finish up this list with another cat-themed game to round off the list: MLEM: Space Agency. The game is built around launching cats into space using dice rolls and because of the "Cat"-astrophic nature of the lack of opposable thumbs, there are bound to be some "meow"-ntains that will need to be overcome by the players. It's a wild and crazy ride that features some excellent cat-puns, which I always enjoy.

Taking a Catnap

That's it for today! It's a bit lighter of a post since I'm trying to keep things relatively simple and clean (cue the Kingdom Hearts fandom freaking out) without rambling too long on these posts now since I know that I can absolutely do that. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what games that you've enjoyed with a cat or dragon theme to them, specifically ones that are built around a mechanic with either of them. There are many games that have references to cats and/or dragons, but I've been trying to feature games that have them prominently featured in their gameplay and covers.

I'll be revisiting each of the themes that I've been talking about with these Monday posts with suggestions that you all put on here so I can more prominently display them and also do a bit of research into what they offer, so keep those comments coming! They are always appreciated and despite not being able to comment as much as I would like on them, I really do value your contributions to this blog.

As always, thank you so much for checking out this blog. If you liked it, please hit the green thumb at the top of the page and feel free to leave a comment on the post. I appreciate all interactions and will respond to everything that I can. If you really liked the post and want more ramblings, feel free to subscribe and get new posts every Monday/Wednesday/Friday.

*Originally posted on BoardGameGeek on 17/6/2024*