Cat & Chocolate is a card game set in a haunted mansion. Each turn, the active player must use 1-3 items in hand to avoid threats, such as a crumbling floor, erupting flames, or attacks by ghosts and the living dead. How can you use a cat and a piece of chocolate to defend yourself? How can a bankroll of money and rope help you escape unscathed? You tell me!

After you tell everyone the story of how you used various tools to ward off the threat, everyone votes on whether or not you succeeded. If a majority backs you, you keep the threat card; otherwise, you don't. Each player secretly belongs to either the Secret Society or the Cult, and you naturally want to vote for the players on your team, but no one knows who is on which team.

After a certain number of threats, the game ends, players reveal which group they belong to, and each group tallies the number of threats that their members escaped. Whichever side avoided more threats wins!

Texas Zombies is a revised edition of Cat & Chocolate that replaces the haunted mansion setting with zombie attacks in Texas, but otherwise keeps the game play the same as the original game.

Awards

• 2010 Japan Boardgame Prize: 1st Prize

Components

• 40 item cards
• 32 event/threat cards
• 6 allegiance cards (3x Secret Society, 3x Cultists)
• 12 decision cards (6x Out!, 6x Safe!)

Microbadges

– Texas Zombies fan (I also liked it when it was called Cat & Chocolate)