Pawns & Paws: 5 Board Games You Can Actually Play ‘With’ Your Cat
My wife and I share two great loves: board games and our cat, Ace. One rainy Saturday in Finland, as we stared at our shelf of games and our 3-year-old gray-and-white domestic shorthair staring back, we had a thought that seemed perfectly reasonable at the time:
What if we could combine these two things?
What followed was weeks of Google searches, AI consultations, and increasingly desperate questions like “can cats understand Catan?” and “are there board games designed for feline cognitive abilities?” Spoiler: The answer is mostly “no,” but we tried anyway.
Here’s what we learned about playing board games with a creature who has zero respect for your carefully planned strategy and an attention span measured in seconds.
The Reality Check: What “Playing With Your Cat” Actually Means
Let’s be clear: your cat is not going to learn the rules of Wingspan. Ace doesn’t care about your engine-building strategy or your clever use of action spaces. What he does care about is:
- Shiny things that move
- Flat surfaces he can sit on
- Small objects he can bat off the table
- Your undivided attention
- Chaos
So when I say “games you can play with your cat,” I mean “games that survive feline interference” and “games where cat participation enhances rather than destroys the experience.” It’s a low bar, but Ace is an overachiever in all the wrong ways.
Game 1: Calico — The Obvious Choice That Backfired Spectacularly
The Pitch: A tile-laying puzzle game about making quilts and attracting cats. It’s literally cat-themed! The tiles have adorable cat illustrations! This should be perfect!
The Reality: Ace took one look at the cloth tiles spread across our table, decided they were clearly meant for him, and proceeded to sit directly in the middle of our game. Not on the side. Not near the edge. Dead center, on top of three carefully placed tiles.
When we gently moved him, he returned approximately 4.7 seconds later and knocked half the tiles onto the floor with his tail. The tiles are durable—they’re made of thick cardboard—but Ace’s commitment to disruption is more durable.
Cat Compatibility: 3/10. The tiles survived, but our game did not. Ace won every round by default occupation.
Lesson Learned: Cat-themed does not mean cat-friendly. In fact, it might mean the opposite. Ace seemed personally offended that the game was about cats but not for cats.
Game 2: Azul — Surprisingly Resilient
The Pitch: A tile-drafting game with chunky, colorful resin tiles. They’re heavy, they’re shiny, and they make a satisfying clink when you move them.
The Reality: Ace was fascinated. He sniffed every tile. He gently tapped a blue one with his paw to see if it would move (it did). He watched with intense focus as we placed tiles on our player boards.
Then he got bored and left.
This is the dream scenario. A cat who investigates, gets bored, and leaves is a cat who isn’t actively sabotaging your game.
Cat Compatibility: 7/10. The tiles are too heavy for Ace to easily knock around, and the game has enough visual appeal to briefly entertain him without inviting destruction. We actually finished a full game with only two minor interruptions (both involving Ace stepping on my score track).
Lesson Learned: Heavy components are your friend. If it takes effort to knock over, your cat might not bother.
Game 3: Isle of Cats — The Irony Was Not Lost on Us
The Pitch: A polyomino game where you draft cat-shaped tiles and fit them onto your boat. Again, cat-themed! Surely this time—
The Reality: Ace has no interest in stylized cardboard cats. He does, however, have a deep interest in the basket of polyomino tiles.
During our first game, he stuck his entire head into the basket, pulled out a tile with his mouth, and dropped it at my wife’s feet like a hunting trophy. We were simultaneously annoyed and charmed.
Cat Compatibility: 5/10. The tiles are durable and Ace’s “contributions” were minimal, but his insistence on “helping” us draw tiles added about 20 minutes to our play time. On the bright side, he seemed to enjoy the game in his own chaotic way.
Lesson Learned: If your cat wants to participate, let him participate. Fighting it only makes it worse. Ace is now the official tile-drawer in our household.
Game 4: King of Tokyo — Ace vs. The Giant Dice
The Pitch: A dice-chucking monster game with huge, chunky dice. The dice are so big that surely Ace can’t—
The Reality: Ace loves the dice. Specifically, he loves watching them roll, and then he loves gently placing his paw on top of one to stop it from moving.
The first time it happened, we thought it was an accident. The second time, we realized he was making a strategic choice. By the third time, we accepted that Ace had become a third player and his strategy was “chaos.”
Cat Compatibility: 6/10. The game works surprisingly well with feline interference. Ace’s dice-stopping antics became part of the fun rather than a frustration. We now have a house rule: if Ace stops a die, you have to reroll it. He seems pleased with his influence over the game.
Lesson Learned: Sometimes the best games with cats are the ones where you embrace the chaos and make it part of the rules.
Game 5: Ticket to Ride — The Unexpected Winner
The Pitch: A route-building game with tiny plastic trains. This seemed like a terrible idea. Small pieces + cat = disaster, right?
The Reality: Ace ignored it almost entirely.
I think the trains are too small and uniform to be interesting. There’s no dramatic dice rolling, no shiny tiles, no fabric surfaces to sit on. It’s just… cardboard and trains. Boring.
Cat Compatibility: 8/10. By being completely uninteresting to Ace, Ticket to Ride became the most cat-friendly game we own. We’ve played it a dozen times with minimal interference. Once, Ace walked across the board and accidentally completed my route from Helsinki to Oulu. I counted it as a legal move.
Lesson Learned: The best games to play with your cat are the ones your cat doesn’t care about.
The Honorable Mention: Chess
After exhausting our modern board game collection, we tried chess. Not because we thought Ace would understand it, but because we were curious.
Turns out, chess pieces are the perfect size and weight for a cat to knock over with precision. Ace walked up to the board, looked at my carefully positioned knight, and swatted it onto the floor while maintaining eye contact.
It was a power move. I respect it.
Cat Compatibility: 2/10. Unless your goal is to teach your cat about psychological warfare, skip chess.
What We Actually Learned
After weeks of attempting to merge our love of board games with our love of Ace, here’s the truth:
Cats don’t play board games. They audit them.
Ace doesn’t care about winning or strategy or rules. What he cares about is:
- Are you paying attention to him? (If no, he will sit on the game)
- Is there something shiny? (If yes, he will investigate)
- Can he knock something over? (If yes, he will)
But here’s the thing: trying to play games “with” Ace has made game nights more memorable, not less. The time he stole a tile from Isle of Cats. The time he stopped a critical die roll in King of Tokyo. The time he sat on Calico and refused to move.
These aren’t frustrations—they’re the stories we tell.
My wife and I realized that we weren’t really trying to teach Ace to play board games. We were trying to include him in something we love. And in his own weird, chaotic way, he’s part of it now.
The Actual Guide: 5 Tips for Board Gaming with Cats
If you’re determined to include your feline overlord in game night, here’s what actually works:
1. Choose Games with Durable Components
Cardboard tiles, heavy resin pieces, and chunky dice hold up better than cards or thin tokens. If it can survive being batted across the table, it’s cat-compatible.
2. Avoid Games with Lots of Small Pieces
Your cat will knock them on the floor. Accept this and choose games accordingly. Ticket to Ride works because the trains are boring. Wingspan does not work because the eggs are perfectly paw-sized.
3. Give Your Cat Their Own “Piece”
Ace has his own tile from Isle of Cats that we let him carry around. It keeps him occupied and makes him feel included. Does it make sense? No. Does it work? Sometimes.
4. Embrace the Chaos
If your cat sits on the board, incorporate it into the rules. If your cat bats a piece, reroll or redraw. Fighting feline interference is a losing battle. Accepting it makes the game more fun.
5. Know When to Quit
If your cat is stressed, bored, or aggressive, it’s not working. Ace usually tells us when he’s done by leaving the room. We respect that. Gaming is supposed to be fun for everyone—including the cat.
The Verdict
Can you actually play board games with your cat?
Technically, no. Your cat is not a rational player who understands turn order or victory points.
But can you play board games around your cat in a way that includes them in the experience? Absolutely.
Ace doesn’t understand Azul, but he likes the shiny tiles. He doesn’t care about King of Tokyo, but he loves stopping dice. He has no idea what Ticket to Ride is about, but he walked across our game board and we laughed about it for days.
That’s what playing “with” your cat actually means: finding joy in the chaos, letting them be part of your rituals, and accepting that sometimes the best move in a game is the one your cat makes for you.