Introduction
Cat On Yer Head is a crowd game that starts with a few simple rules that can then be modified while it is played. An imaginary cat, passed between players, chases an imaginary mouse who must escape it and eat cheese; or hide down a mouse hole; or turn into a cat-eating monster – or whatever the players invent. Because that’s the aim of the game: to build upon its basic rules, redesign it on the fly and make it sillier while you play.
The game is now available in digital and print editions as a 48-page illustrated storybook with full instructions, fun extra features and details of numerous variants. There’s also a free sampler with the basic rules to get you started.
CAT ON YER HEAD IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLEQuotes
★ “Intelligent, interesting (…) One of the prettiest things we’ve seen in a long time (…) Initial impressions: extremely strong.” – Shut Up & Sit Down preview the book.
★ “Filled with invitingly playful illustrations (…) A very significant game (…) An embodiment of what I have devoted my life to creating.” – Bernie DeKoven reviews the book.
★ “Like an executive toy made of humans” – Shut Up & Sit Down review the book whilst playing with 200 players at UK Games Expo.
★ “Lovely little game. Clever. Astutely designed.” – Bernie DeKoven, author of The Well-Played Game and A Playful Path, reviews the game here and here.
★ “Get ahead, get Cat On Yer Head (…) I can’t recommend it highly enough” – The Edinburgh Evening News
★ “An interesting crowd based game where you’re making up the rules (…) Fantastic to watch a real-life iteration on a game design” – Ben Milsom, BBC 99 Coins podcast (at 22 mins 50 secs)
★ “Brilliant Playniac party/comedy game that turns audience into ‘drunken human computer’. Love it!” – Douglas Wilson, Die Gute Fabrik
★ “Cat On Yer Head is an extraordinary game, where players are not protagonists or antagonists but parts of the playfield, intelligent pixels guiding the course of cats and mice that literally don’t exist but want to catch each other anyway. It’s a delightful experience with a unique perspective on games, play and fun.” – James Wallis, Spaaace and Gamecamp
★ “Is it a book? Is it a game? Playniac’s fabulous crowd game is both.” – Nesta
★ “Totally brilliant party game by Playniac.” – Gabe Smedresman, game designer
Photos and video
Shut Up & Sit Down review with 200 players
Cat On Yer Head promo
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IndieCade 2014 (Los Angeles)
Sunday Assembly, 2013 (London)
Gamecamp 6, 2013 (London)
Appearances
Cat On Yer Head has been played internationally, featured at games festivals such as IndieCade, GameCity, GameCamp, GDC Europe, Edinburgh Interactive, Edinburgh Fringe; comedy events such as Science Showoff and Bright Club; and special events at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, LA Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and for Channel 4 in Glasgow. It’s also been run in schools and universities, and as part of game design courses. Here’s a list of appearances between 2010 and 2017, and it continues to be run to this day!
- GameCamp 9
6th May 2017 - London South Bank University, London, UK - Play by Play Festival
22nd Apr 2017 - Wellington, New Zealand - Scrum Alliance Global Gathering
11th Apr 2017 - Sheraton Hotel, San Diego, USA - Bett (British Educational Training and Technology) Show
24th Jan 2017 - ExCeL, London, UK - MUZEUM@DIGIT Conference
23rd Nov 2016 - Hungarian National Museum, Budapest, Hungary - Scrum Alliance Global Gatheringy
17th Oct 2016 - Munich, Germany - Come Out and Play
30th Sep 2016 - Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco, USA - Books Showoff
18th Aug 2016 - Waterstones Tottenham Court Road, London, UK - AIN (Applied Improvisation Network) World Conference
12th Aug 2016 - Keble College, Oxford, UK - Don Bosco Technical Institute
18th Aug 2016 - Henderson, Solomon Islands - Shut Up & Sit Down
15th Jul 2016 - UK Games Expo @ NEC, Birmingham, UK - We Are Museums
7th Jun 2016 - National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania - Continue Conference
25th May 2016 - The National Videogame Arcade, Nottingham, UK - Getting to Grips with Games
23th May 2016 - Derby Silk Mill, Derby, UK - GameCamp 8
20th May 2016 - London South Bank University, London, UK - Tokyo Denki University
8th April 2016 - Hatoyama Campus, Tokyo, Japan - GameCityNights
28th Jan 2016 - The National Videogame Arcade, Nottingham - UK Larp Awards 2015
21st Feb 2015 - Stage Hotel, Leicester, UK - Space Ape Games
5th Feb 2015 - Soho, London, UK - BarCamp Philly [report]
15th Nov 2014 - UPenn Campus, Philadelphia, USA - IndieCade 2014 [video]
11th Oct 2014 - IndieCade Festival, Los Angeles, USA - GameCamp 7
17th May 2014 - London South Bank University, London - LEGup Third Birthday Party
16th April 2014 - Google Campus, London, UK - IndieCade 2013 Red Carpet Awards
3rd Oct 2013 - Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles - All Your Internet [video]
6th June 2013 - Pub on the Park, London, UK - The Litmus Test
30th May 2013 - The Gallery Cafe, London, UK - GameCamp 6 [video]
18th May 2013 - London South Bank University, London, UK - Sunday Assembly [video]
5th May 2013 - Conway Hall, London, UK - Edinburgh Interactive 2012
11 August 2012 - Raddison Blu, Edinburgh, UK - Channel 4’s Fuel4 Games
21st March 2012 - The Lighthouse, Glasgow, UK - National Maritime Museum
16 February 2012 - Greenwich, UK - Bit of Alright
3 February 2012 - Battersea Arts Centre, London, UK - Science Show-off
7 December 2011 - Wilmington Arms, London, UK - GameCity 6 night-time session
28 October 2011 - Wild Rumpus at Chameleon, Nottingham, UK - GameCity 6
28 October 2011 - Old Market Square, Nottingham, UK - GDC Europe/Gamescom 2011
15 August 2011 - Koelnmesse, Cologne, Germany - Bright Club
21 September 2010 - Wilmington Arms, London, UK
LEGup at Google Campus, 2014 (London) – Complete session
Other Resources
See Flickr for a set of photos of the game in action.
Original concept co-created with Richard Butterworth.
Cat On Yer Head book is distributed by Esdevium Games.