I can't count how many times I've fumbled through the rules and then said, "You know what, lets just watch this." and pull out my phone to one of these videos and proceeded to play.
I have a group of several friends that get together for game nights as often as we can. After puzzling with Wingspan for far too long, one friend just pulled up your video on our big screen TV and we were astounded at how simple you made it. Now when we get a new game (this week it is The Isle of Cats) it is automatic that along with reading the rules, we all must watch you explain it in your clear and concise manner. Then we are ready to go! Thank you for making our game nights practically stress free (at least from rules headaches, lol).
I watched your clip because I wanted to learn the game but mainly to see you NOT spin the game box which I know weighs a ton. But you did and you caught it! I am stunned. Drop this one and you could lose a toe.
Thanks for creating this - you create videos with the best, most practical explanations for board games. You can tell how much thought and effort you put into making them and they look professional and great. Thanks a lot.
I'm grateful for that good tutorial from the cat. Rodney should improve to even match the great speaking of the cat. (Thanks for this tutorial, it is an interesting game with a good theme)
Recently got this game and I'm really looking forward to playing. Our cats thoroughly inspect every box that comes in the house, so I'm sure they'll appreciate the designated cat spot. Thanks for a great video. :)
Oh my goodness, Rodney!!! I saw a special release from the Isle of Cats creator and he said he gets asked all the time what happens to the kitties stuck on the island. He's making a whole new game to answer that!! I saw it on the Dice Tower Summer Spectacular announcements. You know what that means: this game goes on my Christmas list! :)
Puts an empty box down with a cat around, and the cat doesn't want to sit in it. Rodney's cat is clearly broken. Immediately walks in front of the camera. Nope, it's working just fine, though it didn't knock the camera over, but I'm chalking that up to it being Canadian and too nice to do that.
Rodney, a clarification on Phase 4. The number of cards players intend to play are shown IN TURN ORDER. I.e. 1st player shows the number of cards, then the rest of the players can judge how many they intend to play and this repeats for the remaining players in turn order. Then all hands are revealed at one time.
@@WatchItPlayed Sorry if this sounded critical. Was definitely not meant that way. Love your work! Thank you for your contributions to the board gaming community!
My cat has one rule: I can't play in peace if there is not a half box sitting there to welcome him! So that inner box print out would be perfect for his tastes! My other cat loves lying right at the edge of the board and have a paw extended right towards a meeple. Not touching, not messing it up, just near it. But our boy, if hungry, will get out of the box and chew on them! I've had to use catnip at times lol
@@WatchItPlayed May I ask. Any recommendations for someone like me just joining board games. Wanting to play with my brother as board games are new to us.. thinking of splendor or Azul..
I don't know why but every time I've played this game I've always discarded all the cards I've not been able to use / didn't want to use after the round ended...didn't realise you could keep them for next day -_- No idea where I read that, 'cause I just rechecked the rules and there is nothing like that in there haha. Guess I should burn the rule books and just use Rodney in the future...
I’d love to see an edge of darkness box flip. That size box may just be the unflippable type of box for Rodney. Great work as always. I’m tempted to to check this one out.
An island full of cats? That's where the schemes of world domination began. And these here are just cuties to have our guards down. Haha. Anyway, this seems to be an interesting game again. Love these videos but they wouldn't do me any good, at least for my wallet.
Why do you make it harder for solo player's to play the game? Just showing the pages of solo Rules doesn't help me at all. Please explain all rules of the rulebook!!!
I'd like to think these videos still make it easier for the solo gamer. Having watched this video, now you only need to learn the changes for the solo mode, and you're on your way (rather than having to learn everything on your own). In these videos I've made a personal choice to focus on the multiplayer rules (in a similar way, I don't typically teach variants or expansion rules either). I have limited time and a lot of games I want to cover, so unless the game only has a solo mode, you won't find me covering the solo rules in addition to the other rules. However, we have an excellent Table For 1 series on this channel where we DO cover the solo rules and a full play through for some of these games, in case you're looking for solo help specifically.
My only question is why turn order isn't the final tiebreaker (or the only one). If players are completely tied on score and fish, they will always have different turn orders on the board. I love how tiebreakers can keep minor game elements interesting to the end rather than making them completely irrelevant once the game is about to finish. Even if you have a turn where you can't score any points, it's nice if you could increase your competiveness in a tiebreaker category.
6:50 So whats the purpose of picking a color on the public lesson? Does it handicap that player as they have less cat meeples to use? It doesnt seem thats explained any further.
I do my best to answer all rules questions on the games I cover, but I avoid individual card effects, as that's a level of detail beyond what I can manage across all the videos I do. Edit: In this case we get a little lucky, as the card shown on screen explains itself: at the end of the game you'll get points based on the color you chose, so the token is just to remind you of what color you chose at the point you played the card, so you don't forget by the end of the game. Hope that helps!
Help me settle a dispute with my SO. He says you have a bunch of empty boxes on the shelf and you can just take any out and flip it like its nothing. I said you set up the game ahead of time and prepare and only that box is in fact empty. OR he says you are a super power and can just flip it around contents and all. Love your videos. Always look for your walkthroughs when trying to find one! Thanks for the amazing walkthroughs :D
I played this game with my brother and my parents today for the first time and we had 2 questions; 1) There is a card that says to take an Oshax cat and costs 5 fish to purchase. Does it require a basket to acquire this cat? 2) There is a play anytime card that states "Discard any 2 played Lesson Cards" I assume this refers to "Public Lesson" cards, and not the personal lesson cards. Is this card specific to the Public lesson cards I personally have played, or can I remove Public Lesson cards that someone else has played?
I do by best to answer all rules questions on the games I cover, but I avoid individual card effects, as that's a level of detail beyond what I can manage across all the videos I do. I'd suggest checking the rules forum for the game on BoardGameGeek or the publishers website. I hope you can find your answer there - have fun playing!
My wife is a cat person, so I picked up this game as an enticement to play board games. I was glad to see you have a How To Play video on it since you do a great job explaining rules. We played a quick family game but tonight 4 of us are playing the full game so here I am. Thanks PS - your Undaunted Normandy was also helpful. Maybe I can talk her into playing that with me. 😂
Hey Rodney, do you know if Isle of Cats is just sold out or if they are not making any more copies. I went to the BGG website and it is unavailable on both Amazon & EBay.
Just a heads up, if you are supposed to get an affiliate credit or something for the game trays, the link doesn't seem to work right, it just takes you to the front of the BGG store. Obviously I can find them regardless, but not sure if that messes up anything for your business. Love your work!
Hey Tracee, anything you purchase from the store after following that link (Game Trayz or otherwise) will be assigned to the affiliate cart - so go for it :)
Love your videos! Just bought this game... After watching your video, this game seems much much more complicated than I expected... Can't wait to give it a whirl to see if I'm wrong. 🤓🤙
rare treasures that get placed into the common pile, are they now considered common? Like If i play a card saying i can pick 2 common treasures, am I able to choose the rare one?
I would totally buy this game, but I heard you can't save all the cats and some of them die on the island. I adore animal games, but I just don't want no kitties to die. ;_; I wouldn't be able to pick which ones to save. I have actually spent time planning how I would save each of my three dogs during a fire....carry Rosey (pictured, who is partly crippled) and Lily if she was freaked, and Daisy would be at my heels I think, but, if not, I'd just have to throw her over my shoulders before I grabbed the others.
@@WatchItPlayed True...or maybe I need to use boats I have from other games and put all the extra polyominos on those. XD XD I have always been told I have quite the imagination...I hope that explains why I care about cardboard cats!!!!
If a rare treasure is displayed in the center, can you take it by covering a colored treasure map with a cat tile of the same color or does that only count towards common treasure tiles? In that case, would playing a rare finding card be the only way to grab a rare treasure tile? Thanks for your video!
@@nedeljkodukic7279 That timestamp is what I meant - yep :) Yes, if you watch that section you linked to, you'll see it states that when you cover treasure map with the matching colored cat you can take a "common" treasure, not a rare one. The video will also detail how rare treasures are collected (which is done differently), if you're unsure.
Once again, an awesome video, thank you. I have to tell you, though, that what you have there is 99% not a cat, but a flerken (which is a vicious alien race that happen to like to impose cats). I have never seen a cat that doesn't love placing itself in a carton box. Super suspicious... All jokes aside, this looks like an awesome game. My friend loves placing games, I love strategy/card games, so this looks perfect.
I don’t own this game (YET!) but I usually enjoy to do some research on games before I make a purchase. This is the first time I have ever come across your videos, and I am greatly impressed. The game itself looks fun, no doubt, but your presentation, pace, and upbeat style of explaining it were fantastic. I will watch more of your videos on other games, and keep up the excellent work sir.
Today was the first time that I have played it. My brother and I find this a nice game! I love the artwork and it looks simple, but there are many things you can do to win... Thanks to your video the explaining part was a lot easier! 😃 Everyone should buy this game, it's a lot of fun! 😃
Your videos are cat-tastic as always. We’re playing this as a family tonight and look forward to applying your explanations. P.s. we are huge family fans of yours!
What a delightful game! We did decide next time we're going to play coop for a collective high score because, uh, my spatial skills are not in the same universe as Ben's. XD Can't wait for the new game to come out where we can be the leftover cats and escape on rafts! All the kitties gotta be safe. :)
Thanks so much for wanting to support the show Corey, that means a lot. I sort of have an ongoing option for people who want to support - you can go here and donate money to the show, and at the same time, pick up some promos if you'd like: www.podpledge.com/project/382/The-Watch-It-Played-s-Promo-Store/shop
I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Can you provide a time stamp to the area of the video you're unsure about? I found this spot - does this answer it? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nA5S64rip4M.html
Sorry Johannes, I lent my copy of the game to a friend, and can't easily check the rule book for you. If you're not able to find the answer there I'd suggest checking the rules forum for the game on BoardGameGeek or the publishers website. I hope you can find your answer there - have fun playing!
@@WatchItPlayed Thanks - It's not in the rules or the FAQ, but someone if the BoardGameGeek forum told me that you can and a number of persons liked the answer.
Question about basket use? When you combine two broken baskets to make a whole usable basket, can you still collect the cats that are featured on the broken basket cards? I'm not clear how that works.
I'm not sure I understand the question. When rescuing cats, you don't gain the ones that are pictured on the cards you played, you gain them by spending fish and collecting the one you want from beside the board (as long as you can pay the fish cost, and have a basket to put them in). You'll find this explained here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nA5S64rip4M.html - let me know if that clears it up for you.
