Cat Stamp Collection and Other Matchbox Delights

Tiny Tabletop Delights Ready for Any Moment

Best for: Those who like to have a game on standby in their pocket, or need something to fill those moments when you're just waiting

2 - 4 players

5+ minutes

31/01/2021

You know the teeny games you used to take on road trips (or driving holidays, if you're British!) and you would play a game or two in the backseat as a kid, or your parent would pull one from nowhere while you were at a service station somewhere in Belgium waiting for the driver to finish resting up? (We drove through Belgium a lot ^.^;)

Well Sharkyuu Games makes SO MANY of these little games, in the most aesthetic matchboxes you could possibly wish for. They're only $5 (500 yen) a game, and recently he's been doing a lot of crowdfunding since his usual event sales have disappeared. Fortunately, his crowdfunders are as simply pleasing as his games; they usually have a main game that you help fund, a free game that comes with it if goals are hit, and sometimes some rather delightful merch.

So, which games play like what?

And why am I talking about all of them in one blog post?! Because I like to live dangerously.

As you can imagine, some of these are better than others, but it all depends on the player count you're looking for. There's a lot of 2-players, but a few of the Sharkyuu collection are 3-4 player, and Wolf and Seven Goats is 3-9 players. All have English and Japanese rules in the box. (I've translated many of them, and have wanted to help get these games out for a long time!)

One of his first games, Wedding Ring, is a solid 2-player card game with a fancy twist: You're trying to lay higher cards than your opponent, all so you can move a ring all the way from your little finger to your thumb and finally on to your opponent's ring finger. It's surprisingly fun to play, and I can see it working really well as a stocking stuffer for a couple, or for an anniversary or Valentine's. There's also the option to avoid putting the rings on; you can just use the sheet it comes with that has wee hands drawn on it :)

Cabaret 4 Card is another of my 2 player favourites; with "Win", "Lose", and "Last Card" cards in your hand, you have to cleverly place one card at a time on either the left or right side of the playmat, and avoid playing a card that would cause your own loss! It's very short but I like it as a boredom buster, and it can easily catch you off guard.

As an interesting translation note, the two words in the middle of the playmat, " Left 'means you' Right", took me probably about 40 minutes to come up with a succinct phrase! Since the Japanese is "左を出したら右” (hidari wo dashitara migi; If you play Left, then Right), I had to really just use the essence of the sentence as opposed to the literal translation, because both structure and length wise, it wouldn't work as-is. Pretty chuffed with it if I do say so maself.

Now, you probably saw the title and thought, "CAT STAMPS?! Where can I get such cuteness?!!"

Well, you've come to the right place, and since you've made it this far I SHALL REWARD YOU. Cats Stamp Collection is "An auction game of furmidable negotiations" for 3-5 players. Not only are there silly furballs on teeny tiny cards, this game packs a lot of fun into such a tiny box. There's trading, deception, luck of the cards, and hidden info. As you desperately try to trade your cat stamps with others to build the most valuable collection, the face down cards in the center will slowly reveal which cards are more valuable. Did you predict that the green cat stamps would be pretty valuable this game? Alas, it turns out green cards are worth the fewest points in this auction! Better try and sneakily trade one to another player.

It's one of the best Sharkyuu games in my opinion, and if you get the chance you should grab a copy.

The last of the many games I want to introduce to you is Wolf and Seven Goats. Now, it says from 3-9 players, but it's a werewolf game, so I really don't recommend anything under 5 players. But! It again packs a lot of fun into a tiny box. The idea with this variant on the classic is that nobody dies and gets left out of the subsequent rounds. Instead of trying to kill the wolves, you're just trying to get all your little goat family home safe!

Each round you will do the night phase where some goats can be rascals and take actions, and then in the morning you will take your votes. However, instead of a free for all and a sudden pointing game, each player takes their own voting token and places it in front of someone they believe to be a goat. If the person with the most votes is a goat, they get home safe and can even keep voting next round. If the player was a wolf, then the game ends and the wolves win! If you can vote all the goats in without accidentally choosing a wolf, the goats win. It takes the stress out of werewolf for those that don't enjoy the scramble to deceive or believe.

I love how portable this one is, and it's even designed so that you can play your other variants of werewolf with it (there are extra characters included so that you can add hunters etc.). I love the art, but I will say it's a little difficult to tell the roles apart at first as they are all so stylised.

Sharkyuu has a lot of new games in the works; he's had at least one a month for the last year or more. I'm particularly looking forward to the speed-stacking santa game! Imagine trying to play that in the back of the car!

Now, I must say I'm a little biased because I'm the translator for a lot of these games, but the ones I mentioned above are the best of them that I would recommend giving a go. They're so easy to pick up and play I think they make a good addition to shelves of gamers that like to be able to take a just-in-case game with them everywhere. I think the designer even made a metal case for just that purpose, so your games don't get all dented. Check out the links below for places to purchase them, and if you like the designer, follow him on Twitter!

Language dependency: ○○○○○

Learning the rules: ●●○○○

Price: 500 JPY

Overall rating: 3.5/5 (For all games as an average!)

Buy the Games

Designer's Twitter