Shocking as its title may imply, Kittens in a Blender is a cute game about…blending kittens. Well, not your kittens, but everyone else’s. Not sure if that makes anything better, but at least it’s a fun game?
Inside the box is a deck of cards and two over-sized cards. Let’s talk about the big cards first, as they actually play a key role. Both pieces of the box are faced upward and placed on opposite ends of the playing area, with one large card in each. One is labeled Blender, while the other is labeled Box. The space in between those two is considered to be the Counter.
At the start of the game, each player will receive six cards. Odds are, your hand will be comprised of action cards, your cats and the cats of others. During your turn, you need to play exactly two cards before drawing back up to six and ending your turn.
Some of those actions include putting act in the blender, in the box, or on the counter. You can also move cats between places on the play area with special action cards. The most dramatic action you can take is the blend. By playing a blend or blend/pulse card, any cats in the blender are blended and gone forever, while the boxed cats are permanently safe. Saved cats count as two points each, while blended points take away one per blended cat.
Basically, you want all of your kittens to go safely into the box, while blending other people’s cats. That’s usually not so simple, as other people will put your cats in compromising situations. It’s up to you to decide when you’re going to make the extra effort to save your own cats, or to blend your own for the greater good. While the game is truly lighthearted in nature, it can be tough to make that call when you see a stack of cute cats that don’t want to go out like this.
Despite its morbid theme, I like Kittens in a Blender. The actual act of blending kittens never comes off as serious as it sounds, and the dynamics of moving cats and locking in points with the blend cards makes for a game with a lot of interesting decisions. This one is also a pretty lightweight game that’s easy to learn and quick to play through. If you can let your apprehension about its title go, you’ll probably like what this game has to offer.
