Rat‑A‑Tat Cat Card Game – Family Board Games & Kids Games | Memory & Strategy Game for Kids 6+ | Quick Play Card Game for Family Game Night, 2‑6 Players

Fantastic game. Easy to learn and teach, with just the right balance of luck and strategy for kids to play with adults without anyone getting bored or frustrated. My 6yo loves it, and I enjoy playing with him. Plus, at the end of each round you need to add up numbers on cards, so it’s reinforcing his math skills.

This is such a fun to play and amazing game. We’ve had it for a few weeks and played probably 60 hours of it already. It’s fun for kids and adults. The directions are incredibly clear. The design is so great even my two year old loves to play. The cards are holding up to lots of little children playing and for long durations of time. The game is so quick to play and it makes it fun even when playing with five players.

Fun game for families

You know the family games that you regret buying, especially when you see your child coming at you with it on a rainy day, saying, "Will you play this with me?" Well, Rat-a-Tat-Cat is not one of these. It's simple enough to learn, but there is enough challenge in it to keep even an adult guessing. Rat-a-Tat-Cat was a gift to our family, but when my youngest daughter (age 4 or 5 at the time) got the hang of it, it became her favourite and here's why: 1)Though she was just learning numbers, she could understand the game, 2)The guessing part of the game put her on equal par with adults, to her delight. 3)Even for a busy adult, it's easy enough to sit down and play this game and actually can be relaxing. 4) If a guest came over, my daughter was able to explain the game rules to the guest and soon she'd have even teenage guys sitting cross-legged on the floor trying to get rid of the rats. Good ice-breaker. Simply put, rats are bad, cats are good. High points ~ you don't want them. The higher the number on the card, the more rat-power in the drawing. Zero is the best, with rats gone and a cat installed as a happy Statue of Liberty. The drawings are whimsical & clever. The reason it's a success as a game for all ages is because though it appears simple, there is the element of not knowing what your cards are and even if you peek (with permission), opponents can take your best away from you. So, if you don't mind losing to a kid and making that kid's day, as well as having a laugh, go ahead and get this game. My daughter is older now and we still play it. She's also learned to be a good loser :-)

We were looking for a quick game that we could play on game nights between longer sessions. This fits in just perfectly. The game has very simple rules (the lowest score wins), and it is player ended (first person that believes they have the lowest score, says "Rat a tat cat" and brings the game to it's final round). It goes by quick. A game can last anywhere from 60 seconds to a couple of minutes, especially once you get the rules down, cards are flying. Everyone seems to enjoy it too, all age groups, and the strategy and counting aspect is simple enough that my 5 year old can play without assistance, and often beats the adults! The game itself is just cards, in a much larger, sturdy cardboard box. If you have other Gamewright card games, it's the same kind of box you get with Sleeping Queens, Zeus on the Loose, etc. The game itself doesn't take much space (four cards for each person on the table at a time, plus a draw deck and a discard pile - that's it) so this makes a good game to take with you on vacations, traveling or while visiting friends. The rules are simple enough to explain and lure others into a game as well. The only two complaints are very small... First is the "6" card. It has a giant green cat balloon being lead by small rats. It is indeed a "Rat" card and not a desirable "cat" card despite the cat being depicted as the focus. Also the "4" is very slim and stylized and looks like a "1". Have had confusion over a younger player and an elderly player believing they had a "1" when it was really a "4". Do these little things ruin the game? Absolutely not, but it is something you might want to point out to those new to the game. Also don't expect lengthy game sessions. Rat-a-Tat-Cat is fun for the fast paced, quick card game that it is. It's not nearly as popular with my kids as "Horse Show" or "Sleeping Queens" but they always demand to play it in between games, and that says a lot.

We love this game and play it often as a family. It is a fun game not just for the kids but for the adults too. We play this game on family game nights with our 7-year-old daughter and grandparents. The game combines strategy, fun and math - it has elements of poker and is quiet exciting! Hours of laughter as we call out "rat-a-tat-cat" and trap others with the worst card in the pile - the number 9 card with the rat king. Highly recommend this game. It also makes a great gift! My 7-year-old daughter reviewed this for her class project. Here is her review: Do you like card games?! I love card games! My favorite is Rat-A-Tat Cat. It is very exciting because you never know what cards you will get. It is also very entertaining for the whole family - all ages 6 and up. It also has funny characters like the number 7 - a rat walking cats! It is also easy to play once you learn the rules. We learned it in a couple of minutes. That is why you should get this game!

I have been playing this card game since I was a kid. Twenty years later, it is still entertaining and fun to play with other adults. This is primarily a game based on luck - but, it does also involve a minimal amount of memory and an even more minimal amount of strategy. This is a great game for young kids - I imagine children as young as 3 or 4 could begin to play and would enjoy it for the fun pictures if nothing else. I began to play around age 7 and really enjoyed it. If you are planning to play with other adults, this game is okay. But, I might recommend other more strategy based games with a bit more growing room. If you are an adult planning to play with kids, THIS GAME IS GREAT! Overall, this is a fun game with cute pictures and minimal strategy. Great for kids and even fun for adults.

We are a family that plays and owns a lot of board games and card games. This is one game that has appealed to all of our kids beginning at age 4, an age when there are few good games beyond classics like Chutes and Ladders or Candyland. Our older kids now continue to enjoy playing it with the younger ones, who often beg to play it after school and don't need an adult to play along. I also like that the game has some opportunity for different kinds of strategy and not just luck. It was recommended to us originally at our local toy shop, which is owned by a guy who really knows his games, and the game has also won lots of awards, so we gave it a go. We've since bought several more for birthday gifts and even to respond to our school's request to send in good "rainy day" games, which we thought the teachers would appreciate it because it doesn't have a lot of small parts, the game goes fast and can accommodate an odd number of multiple players, and the box doesn't take up too much room in the classroom. The goal of the game for each player is to have the lowest total score at the end of the game, based on four cards placed in front of each player, where the low numbers have a corresponding picture of cats and the high numbers are rats (and the middle cards are combinations of rats and cats); the cards are numbered 0-9. The gist of the rules: each player gets four cards at the start of the game, placed face down, and can look at the *two outer cards only* before play begins but must put them back face down. Once play begins, the players can't look again if they forget! (The instructions provide that players might keep the outer cards face up when playing with younger players, but we never did.) Each player therefore also has two cards in the middle that are "mystery cards" at the start of the game. Each turn, a player has an opportunity to either draw a card or take the card on the top of the discard pile. For example, if Player A draws a "2" and thinks that is better than one of his/her mystery cards, it will replace a mystery card with the 2 and discard the mystery card face up on the discard pile, always keeping cards in front of him/her facedown. But sometimes the discarded mystery card turns out to be a good, low number card, which can then be picked up by Player B. Watch out, though, because the game also includes a "Swap" card that, when drawn, lets another player swap a card with any other player, so all eyes will watch where a low discard card goes if Player B takes it, in case a swap opportunity arises! The game also includes a few "Peek" cards that, when drawn, allow the player to peek at one of his/her cards. As soon as a player thinks he/she has the lowest total, he/she knocks the table and says "Rat a Tat Cat!" and all players get one more turn before the game ends, and all cards are turned over and tallied. It teaches kids about memory, simple math, poker faces (don't look too excited when you see a low number or you'll be vulnerable to a lousy swap!), and the merits of different strategies, including waiting until a player *knows* the value of all his/her cards to "rat a tat cat" or be willing to take a risk and end the game early when he/she knows only three and hopes that the unknown "mystery" card is a low number.