Tip the cats out and start building. Each one is moulded in a different sprawling shape, a paw here, a tail there, so no two stack the same way and the tower leans differently every round. That is what makes the cat stack game harder than it looks. There is no winning position and no clever opening move, only the next cat and whether you can find somewhere to put it. The pieces are chunky enough for small hands and light enough that a collapse is funny rather than destructive.

Play alone and test your nerve, or take turns and watch the tension climb. The stack cats game works either way. Solo, it becomes a quiet balance puzzle against your own record. With two or more, each cat you add gets the tower closer to total collapse, and the rule that matters is the unspoken one: do not be the person who sends it down. Stack the cats game rules are that short, which is why nobody has to sit through an explanation before the first round starts.

Boxed at 21 x 7 x 7cm, the cat astrophe game fits in a bag for a pub table, a holiday or a train journey. The catastrophe stacking cats game has nothing to lose track of beyond the cats themselves, no cards to shuffle and no board to unfold, so cat astrophe travels better than almost anything else on the shelf. Set it up on a tray table, a pub table or a picnic blanket and it works the same. Rounds last two to five minutes, so it fills the gap between longer games or the wait for food to arrive.

Comes boxed and ready to gift, which is why it keeps turning up in our gifts for cat lovers collection. It suits a secret santa, a stocking filler or a small birthday present for someone who already owns every cat mug in circulation. The box is smart enough to hand over as it is, and the game is obvious enough that the recipient will understand it from the picture on the front.

Tip out the cats and take turns adding one to the tower. The player who knocks it down loses the round. There is no board and no setup.

How many players is Cat-Astrophe designed for? One or more. Solo play works as a balance puzzle, and two to four is where it gets tense.

What age is Cat-Astrophe for? Ages 6 and up. Younger children manage it with help.

What is in the Cat-Astrophe box? Fifteen stackable plastic cats, each moulded in a different shape. Nothing else, because nothing else is needed.

Is Cat-Astrophe a good game? It is a dexterity game rather than a strategy one. Rounds last two to five minutes. It suits mixed ages and it works as a filler between longer games rather than as the main event.

The best cat stacking game is the one that comes out of the bag, and a cat balancing game this small comes out often.

Cat games for adults usually mean cards or trivia. This one works because it needs no reading and no explaining, so it survives a noisy room and a second drink.