Keep a hold of your slippers, here's our review of Canine Kleptomaniacs. Where the aim of the game is to swipe shoes, balls, bras and everything else as man's best friend.
Canine Kleptomaniacs first hit our radar at the UKGE 2019 and when we were given the chance to review it, we leapt. A family creation from conception of the game mechanics to the artwork production and a title born in Devon UK, it stood out as it is great thematically and seems to be created with an incredible amount of passion and creativity.
The concept of the game is quite easy to pick up. The main aim of the game is to come out on top with the most points, which are picked up from stowing away sets of items. You kick off with a hand of cards ('collectables') and one hiding place. The hiding place can store 2 or more of only one item which you must hide at the same time and these items are safe from any other play while they are within the hiding place.
During your turn you can either hide a set of collectables in your place, swap a set in your hiding place with another in your hand or draw an action card. These cards bring the absolute chaos to the game, with a deck full of random and unique actions, ranging from purely drawing more collectables to gathering everyone's hands, shuffling all cards and redealing. You may also get the opportunity to take a swipe from 'The Masters Bedroom', which is the key to picking up the Laundry Basket, essentially a wild card, The Ultimate Hiding Place, a 2x hiding place, or special items which grant additional points!
Throw in the ability to trade as well and the game is very multilayered in regards to trying to hold on to sets to collect more of the item (and as such gaining more points at the end).
But sitting within the collectable pile are three other types of card to twist the game. Additional hiding places, to allow multiple sets to be hidden, are found within, but there are two game changers lurking within. The first you want to avoid, the dreaded Poo Pizza, which will drop your score by 30 points if it's in your possession by the end of the game! But everyone will be out for the Ultimate Paw of Pilferage, which allows for multi-action and single item hiding. But beware, there are actions and items that will allow others to swipe your precious paw from you!
We played various games of Canine Kleptomaniacs and it's both incredibly fun to play and amazingly easy to pick up. It had moments of tense trading between players to try and gather up our bonus items, complete comebacks thanks to the Paw and devastatingly close games. We had great fun with 2 players and with a large group.
The kickstarter for this fantastic card game ends today - so head on over and back this today!