What’s In The Box?

There’s a cat in the box! But is it dead or alive? Or … is it actually just an empty box after all? Make your scientific claims, and convince your fellow scientists your claim is fact. Or, wait for the right moment to doubt your opponents claim instead!

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What Is It?

✨Theme – The Schrödinger’s cat conundrum
🎯The Goal is to be the last player standing
⚙️Betting/Bluffing – Each turn players must either make a new claim (i.e. there are 4 alive cats among the box cards) or doubt the current claim. When making a claim you can say anything higher than the current claim, shown on the center board, which might mean trying to bluff. You can also lay down proof when making a claim, which will let you swap out other cards in your hand.
⚙️Player Elimination – Doubting a claim will cause all players to reveal their cards to determine if the claim was true or false. Whichever player was wrong is eliminated
⚙️Variable Player Powers – Each player has a one-time power to help help. They might get proof cards, extra draws, can swap card, et cetera

Who Is It For?

👥2 to 6 Players – 2 and 3 players have a variant where players have a certain number of lives. I think it’s best with 5 or 6.
👥Ages 8 & Up – Small ruleset, and you can play without the powers for an easier game; Would benefit from having experience with bluffing
👥Fans of Liar’s Dice, bluffing and “betting”/pushing your luck a bit; those who don’t mind player elimination

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PROS

🟢Aesthetics – Cute art / cats
🟢Rules are clear and well written
🟢Player Powers are easy to add in and add a bit of extra strategy
🟢Small / Portable – Don’t need much table space
🟢I like that you have a chance to swap some cards from your hand, which also lets you strategize a bit, and adds more bluffing
🟢Plays quickly

CONS

🔴Player Elimination – Luckily rounds aren’t long, but it’s still not super fun to just watch others play
🔴Very “samey” play to play

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Final Thoughts

If you have played Liar’s Dice, (I haven’t played in a long time so I don’t remember all the rules exactly) this will feel very familiar. This adds a silly theme, gives you a little flexibility with your hand, and let’s you have a once per game ability. There’s definitely luck involved, but with enough confidence, you can lie your way to the final round! haha. A fun game every so often.

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Additional Details:
My Final Rating – 5/10

Designers – Heather O’Neill, Christopher O’Neill, Adriel Wilson
Artist – James Stowe
Publisher (Previously) – Amigo Games
MSRP – $14.99
Buy It