I am someone who has backed arguably far too many board games through crowdfunding. I find joy in large boxes packed full of plastic miniatures or sleeved cards, and hearing things like “complex” and “takes all day to play” makes me salivate. But I still have a soft spot for smaller and more party-tailored games for those times you just need that quick hit of board game goodness or are with a group of folks that aren’t quite as deep or interested in the hobby and are just looking for a fun time. In those situations, You Gotta Be Kitten Me, developed by longtime game designer Justin Gary and published by Stone Blade Entertainment, is a solid contender.
Perhaps the biggest hook of Kitten Me is the cute pictures of puppies and kittens that adorn each card and the game’s box. On the cards, adorable fur babies can be wearing bowties, hats, or glasses in three possible colors – green, red, and blue. This combination of outfit accessories and colors makes up the crux of Kitten Me’s gameplay. Three cards are dealt to each player, and from there, each person will take a turn guessing how many of something there are in the hands around the table – ie, “I think there are three blue bowties” – with the following person having to increase the amount of their guess, even if it is for a different accessory or color. When someone believes that what the person has guessed is too outlandish or you don’t feel it is possible, a player can shout, “You’ve got to kitten me!” at which point everyone shows their card and the symbol/color of what was just called is tallied up. If it turns out that the person’s guess was less than the value on the table, the person who called the tally loses a card, but on the flip side, if the person whose guess it was turns out to be more than what is on the table, they are dealt one less card each turn. From there, a new turn is dealt out, and the process repeats. The last person with any cards in their hand is the winner.
You Gotta Be Kitten Me falls squarely in the “good as a party game for folks who don’t play games” category for me. At only about $15 USD and playable with 2-10 players, it’s a pretty painless game to pick up for a game collection, and with a small box, it doesn’t take up too much space. It’s a game that would fit in perfectly on the small game shelf at your local coffee house or bar.
While it approaches things from a bit of a different angle – guessing as opposed to bluffing – playing Kitten Me always reminded me of games like Bullsh** or Egyptian Rat Screw that you can play with a standard deck of playing cards. It gave me a similar sense of “pushing my luck” and the “will they/won’t they” when it came to see if anyone would call me on my guess. That moment is when you hold your breath before the next player takes their turn, and your safety is present in all the games.
The element of counting cards and keeping track of what has been played and called is different (since a majority of the deck in Kitten Me remains unplayed and in the center of the table). The reference card that each player gets with the quantities of everything listed, does help you guesstimate what could be in folks’ hands. That makes Kitten feel more of a game of chance and borderline blind guessing, as opposed to some of the more strategic elements that can be found in the previously mentioned standard deck card games.
What surprised me the most after a bunch of Kitten Me games was that it wasn’t the game itself that I found myself getting tired of, but the theme – those cute animals and their hats. The theme, while adorable, isn’t something I gravitate to in the games I play, and it felt more like a novelty than adding anything really meaningful to the overall product. I think kids will love it, and as I mentioned before, I think folks seeing it on a shelf at a coffee shop will want to pick it up, but for more consistent or regular play, it started falling flat relatively quickly. This decline isn’t helped at all by the fact that you get a lot of repeating dog and cat pictures. If each card was unique, I think it would add some longer legs to the experience. At the end of the day, I think Kitten’s mechanics could be easily applied to just your standard deck of playing cards without much of a loss in the game’s mechanic quality.
You’ve Got to be Kitten Me is a cute and enjoyable game for quick bouts at a party that is easy for board game novices and hobbyists to play together. I think its saving grace is its low price point and small box because nothing about it would make me want to pay more. The mechanics are solid enough, though, that if this game were ever to release a version with generic shapes and colors in place of the animals and accessories, I would pick that version over this one.
You’ve Got to be Kitten Me is available on Amazon, Target, Walmart, and your local game store.
Thank you to the developer for sending us a review copy of You Gotta Be Kitten Me!
