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Playful Pets encompasses a range of pet themed board games made by Atikin Games. This Kickstarter is for the first 3 games which are all cat and dog themed and come together in one box: Feline Felonies, Canine Capers and Animal Alliance. The first two are also available as stand-alone mint tin games for those who like travel games and/or for cat and dog lovers alike to take their pick.
Many of us have strong connections to our pets and other animals we’ve encountered, Playful Pets throws these wonderful creatures into a fun make believe world where cats can be felons and dogs can be keen investigators. Think of children playing cops and robbers and you’re basically there, but with our sweet furry friends instead.
These games will be hand crafted from my home office with only the printing and dice being outsourced. The game boards, boxes, inserts, resin playing pieces, etc will all be put together by hand.
All three games are quick to learn and the similarities between them make it easy to switch to the other games in the box without a lot more to learn. Their differences, both in theme and gameplay, make each game stand out as fun and unique from the others.
In all three games you are fetching and retrieving either toys or clues. Players roll dice to determine their ‘Purr/Paw Points’ for each turn. Using these they traverse the board, pick up and drop off items, utilise special spaces on the boards and use ‘Special Actions’ which are different for each dice roll and for each pet in each game.
The range of actions and Special Actions available to the player each turn means that despite the use of a die to determine points to use, these games aren’t all about luck. You’ll need to develop your tactics and have a good strategy in mind to give yourself the best chance of winning.
“This roll for action points mechanic works really well, especially as each roll has an optional special action too. I also really like the coordinates mechanic used to add new toys to the board – it’s really smart!”
In Feline Felonies you take charge of a neighbourhood cat whose goal is to be the greatest thief around. You’ll steal toys and other items cats believe to be toys from around the board as well as from other cats. Get the most highly valued toys home to win and be crowned most felonious of the felines.
You will steal from other cats, flaunt your spoils in front of cats to increase their value, and move quickly past dogs. Use Special Actions to flip toys to their more valuable side, move toys on the board and even take a cat nap to save points for later use.
2-4 players, 30-45 minutes & Competitive
“It’s quick and easy to learn and play. With two players it is really good, competitive fun but with four it is brutal. Some of the games we played were very close indeed so the higher scoring cat nip was useful in ensuring there was a clear winner. Cats don’t want draws. One cat must reign supreme.”
In Canine Capers you play as a determined dog who is investigating their neighbourhood, sniffing out clues and to solve the imagined capers going on in their little country village. Work together to reach clues in time and secure them at Canine P.D. to earn points and solve the caper of the day.
You can give and take clues between dogs, and utilise the sly foxes on the board to help you retrieve more valuable clues that have been pilfered by sneaky cats. Use your Special Actions to jump to home, move clues on the board, enhance your clues, move diagonally and even send clues back to the resource pool in order to extend your playing time.
1-4 players, 30-45 minutes & Cooperative
“The resin paw print pieces are adorable! I love how the board is attached via magnets to make it portable and practical. I love the artwork especially the front of the tin. It’s super cute, just like the sweet little tin it comes in.”
In Animal Alliance the felines are doing their felonious best to steal those toys and the canines are returning toys to the lost and found. The twist is each player takes control of a cat and dog team who live in the same house, they have different goals but a combined score.
Each turn you will roll two dice and assign them to your cat and dog team, this way you can make the most of the best dog and cat skills for that round. You can increase toy values by displaying them on plinths, move quickly past picnics that you’ll be shooed away from, and give and take toys between your team of two to help in securing it faster, before another team can steal it away.
2-4 players, 40-60 minutes & Competitive
What’s In The Box?
Two reversible game boards – side 1 Feline Felonies & Canine Capers. Side 2 Animal Alliance part 1 & 2
25 clues tokens
15 toy tokens
4 cat playing pieces
4 dog playing pieces
8 dice
4 home tokens
Toy chest card
4 cat action cards
4 dog action cards
For the mint tin versions of Feline Felonies and Canine Capers the mint tins contain a subset of the Playful Pets contents and the game boards come as six cards with magnets attached and two magnetic connectors.
“You have to respond to what’s happening on the board and do the best you can with the dice result you have. Luckily, there are many options open to you from turn to turn, so you have many different ways of getting precious toys”
Oliver Kinne, Tabletop Games Blog
Rewards
Playful Pets: Cats & Dogs 3 games in one box
Standard – £26
Custom Colours – £28
Canine Capers Mint Tin Game
Standard – £10
Custom Colours – £12
Feline Felonies Mint Tin Game
Standard – £10
Custom Colours – £12
Atikin Games Bundle – £58
Includes: Tri To Win – RRP £15.99
Custom Mini Memory Mischief – RRP 9.99
Deluxe Board Game Survival Kit – RRP 11.99
Playful Pets: Cats & Dogs 3 games in 1 box – £28.99
“This cute little game comes ready to assemble, pocket size in a mint tin! How sweet is that!!”
Games with Beany
Add-Ons
Playful Pets: Cats & Dogs 3 games in one box
Standard – £25
Custom Colours – £27
Canine Capers Mint Tin Game
Standard – £9
Custom Colours – £11
Feline Felonies Mint Tin Game
Standard – £9
Custom Colours – £11
Tri To win – £14
Mini Memory Mischief – £8
“We loved that all three games share a similar core mechanism which makes teaching a breeze.”
Gavin Jones, Jones Family Game Night
Customise Your Game
The cat and dog playing pieces that come with the games will be white, black, grey and orange to match the cats and dogs featured in the game. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to play as your favourite colours. Just choose ‘custom’ game rewards and you’ll be able to pick the 4 colours you would prefer your cat and dog pieces to be in the pledge manager.
I put together some custom colour examples below. They’re using my original moulds though so just imagine they’re much smoother and prettier like the four main colours at the top of the image.
(Custom colour examples can be seen on the Kickstarter campaign page)
“Honestly can’t believe this much fun fits in a mint tin”
Emery Meeple
Shipping
I will ship worldwide and shipping will be calculated and charged in the pledge manager after the campaign. Here are the estimated shipping fees:
Postage | 1 Mint Tin Game | 2 Mint Tin Games | Playful Pets | Bundle | |
UK | 1st Class | £2.30 | £2.90 | £4.70 | £6.50 |
UK | 2nd Class | £2.00 | £2.50 | £4.00 | £4.00 |
Europe | Std | £4.55 | £5.55 | £9.75 | £11.75 |
Europe | Eco | £4.50 | £5.40 | £9.70 | £11.55 |
USA & Canada | Std | £6.15 | £8.60 | £20.05 | £27.15 |
USA & Canada | Eco | £4.50 | £5.40 | £9.70 | £11.55 |
Africa & Asia | Std | £6.00 | £8.30 | £15.55 | £20.55 |
Africa & Asia | Eco | £4.50 | £5.40 | £9.70 | £11.55 |
Australia & New Zealand | Std | £7.10 | £10.15 | £18.30 | £24.45 |
Australia & New Zealand | Eco | £4.50 | £5.40 | £9.70 | £11.55 |
Rest of the World | Std | £7.10 | £10.15 | £20.05 | £27.15 |
Rest of the World | Eco | £4.50 | £5.40 | £9.70 | £11.55 |
Important shipping information, please read:
- The delivery month on your reward is the date by which I will fulfil the project, it may not arrive in the same month.
- If you add more games (weight) to your order these costs may be greater. The cost will be worked out by weight in the pledge manager for you, if you would like to check ahead of time what your final cost will be just message me.
- You may be responsible for duties, handling fees and taxes applicable to your region, especially if choosing to buy in bulk.
“Despite the small size, the game has been beautifully designed. It has certainly become a big hit in our house, even the kitties want to play!… We love this game, it has everything you need in a family big board game, but shrunk down to be super space saving”
Dino-Girl, Diary of a Lincoln Geek
Reviews – Animal Alliance
You can click any of the quotes in these review sections and throughout the campaign to be taken to the original preview.
“I loved having a little dream team of playful but devious pets to collect and steal as many toys as possible – great family fun for casual and experienced gamers alike!”
Reviews – Canine Capers
“Canine Capers provides decisions aplenty for wannabe doggy detectives! …a charming co-op puzzler with an end-game scoring mechanism that makes you want to try and beat your last points tally.”
“The game gets really exciting as the pool of clues runs out. Canine Capers is a really quick and fun cooperative game for all the family. It comes in such a wonderfully small box, that you can easily take it with you anywhere.”
Oliver Kinne, Tabletop Games Blog
“This game is teeny tiny… yet a whole shabang of fun! A tiny tin full of fun!”
Reviews – Feline Felonies
“But do not be fooled – this game is anything but cute; it may show you its belly but you’d be a fingerless fool to tickle it!”
Stretch Goals
Feline Festivities – £4k
Canine Christmas – £6k
The stretch goals for this project are two more mint tin games! They’re similar in style to Feline Felonies and Canine Capers but with festive themes that will make them perfect stocking fillers this Christmas! If these goals are reached then these additional mint tin games will be added to the campaign as add-on items.
Feline Festivities is solo, 1-4 players and co-operative, like Canine Capers. Cats are trying to steal ornaments from the Christmas tree before the silly humans can rescue them, with the end goal being to bring down the Christmas tree for extra points!
Canine Christmas is 2-4 players and competitive, like Feline Felonies. Dogs are trying to help their human friends to put decorations up before a festive party, who will be most helpful, who will get the most beautiful ornaments to their human?
These two cute and playful stocking fillers will mean there are both co-op and competitive versions of games for cat and dog lovers alike.
Fulfilment
Playful Pets will be made by me (Nikita) at home. The aim for the fulfilment dates of the initial games is for them to have shipped by the end of that month. I plan to start fulfilment by the end of September so please let me know if the address you provide in the pledge manager is date dependant.
For the first run of games, I hope to have them completed by the end of November in the hopes that we will have reached a stretch goal or two and I can get the Christmas themed mint tin game to backers by Christmas.
For these reasons the pledge rewards and add-ons are a limited quantity based on the amount I estimate that I can make by the end of November. Should this campaign become massively successful (a girl can dream), I’ll add more rewards to the campaign that fulfil at later dates.
About Atikin Games
Atikin Games is an indie tabletop games publisher and very much a one woman show. It’s just me, Nikita, hi! I do all the game design, art, writing, etc for my games and gaming accessories myself. I’m very proud of my work and love the board gaming community and being a part of it.
I run The Indie Tabletop Newsletter which is full of news from other indie designers and is released once a month. And I regularly host weekly #BoardGamersLifts over on Twitter.
There are some very important additions to my team for whom Atikin Games wouldn’t be the same without:
There’s Captain; he’s the Atikin Games mascot and even has his own page on the website. He’s a wonderful mascot and a great therapy cat for when times are tough. He’s also very good at testing the durability of a game.
My husband is always my first play tester, and then another close family friend helps as well so that I can iron out any possible problems and strengthen the game before play testing with a larger audience.
So far, I’ve created 6 games, and I love them all. If you’d like to know a little more about my previous games please keep reading.
Mini Memory Mischief – is a cute and nerdy mint tin game for 2 players based on Last-In-First-Out memory processing played with Mikro and Chip, two cute pixel cartoon characters that let you play on their memory stacks. In the game you use operators to push and pop letters on and off of memory stacks in order to get the most letters in alphabetical order before your opponent. It funded on Kickstarter in October 2020 with the help of 231 backers.
Tri To Win – is a triathlon themed card game for 2-6 players and tonnes of fun for friends and family. You build up the skills of your athletes whilst building the race course together before racing on the board game you’ve just built out of cards. It funded on Kickstarter in February 2020 with the help of 132 backers.
Malum Hortus – is currently in development and already has a fan base all of its own. It’s a much bigger board game with a horror theme and some wonderful artwork. It’s a 1-4 player co-operative game. You play as nymphs trapped in and trying to escape an evil garden that’s beautiful by day and dreadful at night. I hope to be able to kickstart it in Spring 2022.
“The cute little board using magnets to hold them together in place is very crafty and the little cat tokens are super cute. ^_^”
Playful Pets Kickstarter Video
Film and animation: Nikita Sullivan, Atikin Games
Music: Wallpaper Paste by Shane Ivers
Photos: provided by wonderful board gamers and community members