Leveling Up Your Game in The Isle of Cats Digital

Citizens of Squall’s End! Lookouts have spotted the sails of the evil Lord Vesh on the horizon! We must save the Isle of Cats before he arrives! The Isle of Cats Digital is now available on Steam, with mobile platforms soon to follow!

With The Isle of Cats Digital now available on Steam, there are many players sailing to the island for the very first time, and getting a win against experienced players or AI opponents might feel as challenging as, well, herding cats. Not to worry, sailors, we’re here to help! Keep reading for some strategy tips to consider in your cat-rescuing endeavors.

As a caveat, it’s important to remember that The Isle of Cats Digital is a highly dynamic game where no singular piece of advice will always be true. The card drafting ensures that every single game plays out differently, and a strategy that worked in one may not be viable in the next depending on which cards come out!

Strategy in The Isle of Cats Digital: 10 Points to Consider

Don’t Underestimate the Value of Lessons! 

You can place your cats and treasure well, but Lessons are ultimately what will determine the outcome of most games. You can’t afford to ignore them!

While rescuing cats and placing them on your boat is the focal point of The Isle of Cats, there are only so many points you’ll gain from placing them and filling up Rooms. It’s easy to learn this the hard way, when you have a boat that’s nearly filled to the brim with perfectly-placed cat families — only to get crushed by the player next to you who gained a smorgasbord of points from their 13 Lesson Cards!

Grabbing New Lessons – Do Any Lessons Contradict Each Other?

This Lesson would grant points for empty bedrooms, but one of the bedrooms on this boat is already full! While it won’t always be clear-cut as this example, make sure you’re not needlessly grabbing Lessons that you won’t be able to fulfill.

Some Lessons are in direct conflict with each other, which is important to avoid when you’re grabbing new ones! For example, Clean Slate rewards you for having NO visible Rats on your boat, while Rat Lover does the opposite, granting points for each one left uncovered. Be careful with Lessons that cancel each other out or pull you in different directions – pivoting to make the most out of one might mean scoring nothing on the other!

Public Lessons – Do You Have an Advantage?

This Public Lesson rewards points for common treasures, which works pretty well for this player. However, it’s always wise to check on other players’ boats — if an opponent has a lot more treasure, this player could be helping them win!

Public Lessons can be tempting, but be careful — something that works for you might be working even better for someone else! It’s prudent to check other player’s boards before drafting Public Lessons to ensure you’re not accidentally helping someone else win. Do you have an advantage in whichever category the Lesson is rewarding points for? That’s the time to strike!

Boots – How Important is the Turn Order this Round?

This player needs one additional red cat to satisfy the Crew’s Favorite Public Lesson, but there’s only one red cat that will fit on their board. This would be a good round to prioritize speed, in order to ensure that your prized piece doesn’t get catnapped by another player!

Sometimes, there’s a cat on the Island that offers exactly what you need, and on those occasions, it’s worth playing extra Boots to ensure you’ll get first pick! If instead there are a variety of cats that could each be useful for you in their own way, ask yourself if the turn order really matters for that round — if not, no need to worry about boots!

Baskets – Are You Leaving Enough Fish to Fill Them?

This player is setting themselves up to have three baskets and 10 fish. That means they can fill all three baskets, but only if they’re pulling from the left side. They could bring in another basket, but that would leave them with 8 fish, and they’d only be able to fill two out of four. Not very economical!

One of the trickiest parts of the game is balancing the way you spend your fish between cards and cats — spend too much on baskets, and you won’t be able to afford cats to fill them with! 

Here are some factors that are prudent to consider when you’re deciding how to balance your fish:

• Do you have enough fish to fill up all of your baskets with cats?
• Which side of the island are you buying from? Remember to budget if there’s an expensive cat you really need!
• Permanent baskets – each of these that you have lets you get away with fewer basket cards each round. They can be pricey, though, so they might not be worth going for later on in the game!

Cats – Left or Right Field?

If this player wanted to add to their red family, their only options are the more expensive cats on the right — it would be wise to budget for that this round when determining which cards to save and keep!

Remember that the cats are randomly sorted each round, which means that the expensive right-field cats aren’t inherently better than the cheaper ones on the left. Sticking with the cheap cats is a good way to save fish! That said, an expensive cat that you really need can be more beneficial than a cheaper cat that you don’t need, so while it’s good to be thrifty, make sure that thriftiness doesn’t come at a greater cost!

Oshax Cats – Are You Getting the Most Out of Them?

Oshax Cats are expensive, so it’s best to save them for moments where they can be useful. This player was able to use their Oshax to add to their green family, cover a lot of space, and collect a Treasure Map — which they can immediately use to fill up the rest of the Captain’s Room! 

Oshax Cats cover a lot of space and can function as any color, which means they can really come in clutch in certain situations. Since you can choose when to play them, consider waiting for a moment where their unique traits will be particularly useful! They can be instrumental in filling Rooms, covering rats, adding to Families, and/or comboing with a treasure map to cover a whole lot of space at once. 

Rooms – Are You Wasting Time on Rooms You Won’t Fill?

It’s the end of the game, and this player was wise not to dedicate energy to the upper Bedroom, which they clearly wouldn’t have been able to fill. However, they’ve got a lot of cats and treasure in the Deck, which probably could have been better used to better effect filling out the nearly-finished green and yellow rooms.

It’s important to be realistic about which rooms you’ll fill. The Deck, for example, is the biggest one of all and requires a lot of commitment. Not feeling good about your odds? Then don’t worry about it — hedge your bets on the other rooms instead! Every rat you place in a room that won’t get filled is a cat that may have been better used to cover space somewhere else.

Families – Cats That Collect Treasure Together Stay Together

It’s not a hard requirement to place cat families near their respective treasure maps, but it’s generally a good idea. This player neglected to do so with their blue and purple cats, blocking themselves from one map and needlessly distancing themselves from another. 

It’s generally wise to keep your cats of the same colour together in families, which award large point bonuses. And while you’re free to place cats wherever you want, the treasure maps on your boat provide a good blueprint for where certain colours should go.

Are You Filling Out Smaller Spaces with Treasure?

See that lone rat in the middle of the boat? That’s a perfect spot for a small treasure to fill, and it would complete this player’s Dining Room — but be careful, because treasures can run out, as this player has discovered. Due to their ability to fill out tiny spaces, the smallest treasures are often the most valuable!

One of the most useful purposes for Treasure is filling out smaller areas where cats won’t fit. This is indispensable for filling up rooms! There are also opportunities for synergy here — if you have an odd-shaped cat that you’re placing on a treasure map, you can use the treasure to fill out some space that the cat wasn’t able to cover. If you don’t have any small nooks or crannies on your boat yet, you can choose to delay playing your treasure cards until later.

Improving Your Game in The Isle of Cats Digital

We’re leaving some aspects of the gameplay for you to find, because discovering strategies and improving on one’s own is one of the most fulfilling aspects of playing a game. That being said, we can recommend some ways for you to blaze your own path of improvement in The Isle of Cats Digital:

• Play Against AI Opponents: We’ve done our very best to create competent AI opponents that are adjustable to different skill levels. Playing against them is a great way to improve! If you continually find yourself getting beaten, one of the best things you can do is compare their final outcomes to yours — what did they do differently? Once you can fairly consistently beat AIs at a certain difficulty, move up to the next level!
• Play Challenges: Don’t be fooled into thinking you’re not ready for a “Challenge” if you’re a novice player. On the contrary, these scenarios with unconventional rules and win conditions can be a very effective way to learn the ins-and-outs of the game! For example, Lesson Learned gives you extra points for fulfilling Lessons and penalizes you for Lessons you don’t fulfill. Tricky for sure, but highly instructive in teaching a player how to effectively choose Lessons that they will get good use out of without being wasteful!
• Learn from Other Players: Online communities can be great spaces to discuss strategy and learn from experienced players. Want to chat with other players who are exploring the island? Be sure to check out the Dire Wolf Discord and the Steam Forums for The Isle of Cats Digital!

Set Sail for The Isle of Cats

The Isle of Cats Digital is now available on Steam, with Android and iOS soon to follow! Whether you’re a veteran of the tabletop game, or a new player who’s intrigued by all this cat-rescuing business, set sail to the island by downloading the game today!