| Recommended Age: | 4+ |
| Players: | 2-5 |
| Cost: | $11.99 |
| Play Time: | 15 Minutes |
| Company Site: | www.gamewright.com |
| Skills: | Visual Discrimination Counting |
| Contents: | 20 wooden mice, 2 custom dice kitty bowl, rules of play |
| Official Site: | gamewright/index.php?section=games&page=game&show=199 |
| Awards: | Today's Parent Magazine Top Toy of the Year Parents' Choice Approved FamilyFun Magazine Toy of the Year Finalist Parenting Magazine Mom-Tested Toy of the Year & More |
I know that is not how the song goes…but I sing the song every time we play this game. Also, the last line should be done in a Cookie Monster voice. Feed the Kitty is a fast, easy to learn fun game that kids as young as 3 can play (recommended ages 4+) and as old as well…me will enjoy.
The game comes in a box with a sort of comfy spot for the Kitty bowl and everything else fits inside that bowl making it very easy to pick up when you’re done. This also means very, very easy set up as you simply remove the bowl and pass out mice.
The mice are tiny cute and made of wood which means not so easy to break. I do love wood pieces in games. It just feels more durable to me. The dice are not made of wood but feel smooth and solid and are slightly larger than normal dice. The bowl is thin plastic but since all you do is put mice in and take them out I don’t think that will be easily broken.
Now on the Setup and how to Play! I don’t even think you need to adjust much for kids around 2-3!
Setup:
Each player starts off with a certain number of mice depending on how many people are playing. Here is the breakdown:
- 2 players – 8 mice
- 3 players – 6 mice
- 4 players – 5 mice
- 5 players – 4 mice
The rest of the mice (if there are any) go into the bowl which should be placed in the center of your table. Now on to the How To Play parts!
The person with the shortest pinky goes first. That’s right…Shortest. Pinky. I love random rules like that. Play then continues to the left once you have all measured your pinkies and decided whose is the shortest.
Objective:
Be the last player to have Mice.
Play:
Every turn you roll the dice and do what they say. Here is a picture to show the rules so I don’t confuse you trying to explain. I WILL give examples though!
So if you roll 1 Bowl and 1 Arrow then you put 1 Mouse in to the Bowl and 1 Mouse goes to the person on your left.
If you roll 1 Cat and 1 Mouse simply take 1 Mouse from the bowl.
If you roll 2 Bowls put 2 Mice in the bowl.
Now if you only have 1 Mouse left and your roll 2 Bowls you can only put 1 Mouse in the bowl. This doesn’t mean you lose though! It does mean you cannot roll the dice. If you do not have any Mice than you don’t get to roll dice. Makes sense.
This actually happened to us. I ran out of Mice and the Gentleman had like 6 and the Diva had 3. They both continued to roll while I waited and hoped that the Diva would have to give me a Mouse. This did not happen though. If she DID have to give me a Mouse I would have been back in the game! But alas…she had to give her Mice to the Bowl.
My son and his endless luck with dice meant he didn’t have to do anything for a few turns. The kid rolled double Cats 3x in 5 rolls! If he has that luck when he is 18 we are going to hang a bit at a particular table. In the mean time I will have to settle for losing a lot to him in games that involve my rolling dice.
Variations:
If you have kids who are a little older playing you can make it more of a challenge type game. You can set a number of rounds like 3-5 and see who gets the most Mice Points total after those rounds. I want to try playing to a certain number like 20. Play until someone totals 20 Mice Points! I also really like getting (and saying) Mice Points!
Kids ages 2 or 3 might struggle with the dice at first so you can make it a practice game by having them roll one die and simply doing what it says. Do this for a few times and they will pick up easily. Otherwise you won’t have to adjust it much for that age group.
This is game can be fun for all ages but if you have a 2-3 year old and are looking for a new game (besides the 1-2 you have been playing a dozen times a day every day for months) this is a great start. 
