Space is relative for cats. They seem like they can fit everywhere and will try to fit anywhere if they feel like it. This was part of the inspiration that led Japanese artist Yuka Morii to develop a board game dedicated to cats.
Morii’s game is called Nego, which represents a wordplay on terms “Neko,” which is the Japanese word for cat, and “Go,” a Japanese game in which the primary goal is to fill out as many places on the board as possible using figurines. Nego is similar to Go, but instead of plain figurines, it uses black and white cats.
The game comes with an 8 x 8 grid board and 24 cats, 12 white cats and 12 black cats, of different shapes. The players take turns placing cats on the board, following a set of rules, while aiming to take up the most tiles. The player who loses the game must meow and should also “meow sadly” for each cat piece they didn’t manage to place on the board. You can check out the full rules below.
Nego not only seems fun, but it is also beautifully designed. Unfortunately, it is currently only available in Japan. We hope this will change soon, and we will all be able to try it out.
