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Hissy Fit! Kickstarter Review – EverythingBoardGames.com

Quick Look: Hissy Fit!


Designers: Levi Robertson, Chris Stone
Artist: Little Putin
Publisher: Stone Age Distractions
Year Published: 2023 (Kickstarter campaign now Live – Link at bottom)

No. of Players: 1-4

Ages: 8+

Playing Time: 20 minutes.

 

Foreword:

I got to meet up with fellow designer, Chris Stone, for a great chat and playtest of Hissy Fit. I’ve had the pleasure of playing other designs by Chris and even playtesting other designer’s games at the same time. In short, this isn’t the first time we’ve run into each other and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Chris, like the rest of the team on this title, have a lot of experience in the board game community and have come together to produce this quick and quirky small box game.
The pre-launch Facebook community for this project looked like it was having a blast with the contests, events and the exchange of playful banter and cat pictures. I was late to the party, but dropped in to check it out and, of course, drop a cat pic of my own.

From the Publisher:

In this cooperative card game of carefully-coordinated cat coaxing, you and your partner are humans trying to get your cat into the carrier. But be careful, or this trip to the vet could turn into a trip to the emergency room!

Disclaimer: The publisher and I played the digital prototype of Hissy Fit! together. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.

 


Review:

Initial Impression/Components: 

I did not play a physical version of this game but I did get a couple of games in on Tabletop Simulator. I’m starting to become really attracted to small box style games for so many reasons and this one is no exception. There’s something satisfying about fitting a perfectly enjoyable experience into a portable and accessible game. The designs and titles of the cards had me smiling and chuckling the whole way through. This is meant to be a light-hearted, funny co-op and I think it does that right from the start with the simple components and visual design. It comes with some handy trackers and tokens as well as a lovely custom cat meeple. Find a full list of components below.

Base Game – List of Components (without add-ons):

  • 27 Cat Cards
  • 23 Human Cards
  • 1 Cat Tracker
  • Hissy Fit Cards
  • Hiss Tokens
  • 11 Plastic Cubes (10 Calming, 1 Scratch)
  • 1 Custom Cat Meeple + Meeple Sticker Sheet(s)
  • Quick Reference Cards
  • Rulebook
  • Game box

If I might add, I don’t usually talk much about pricing, but I got to chat about the $5 Promo Pack add on and for what it adds to the game I’d say it’s worth it. Personally, I’d be gunning for those harder difficulty modes and the mini game.

Favorite:  

Cats are a whole lot of things but I think we can all agree that they can certainly have their personalities and be entertaining. My favorite part of this game is picturing the experience actually taking place within the awesome illustrations and titles. For example, the little games you sometimes play with a real cat to get them to come out of somewhere they shouldn’t be, like shaking their favorite toy. Well, this game has situations like a cat hiding which have status advantages for the cat that you need to deal with or they will add together. That’s where your creative coaxing comes in!


Least Favorite:
 

As it happens, I’m pretty adept at identifying patterns and ‘best moves’. I was concerned this would be a bit too easy for me while I’d still love the game and art anyways. However, it was an acceptable difficulty. Now, when I heard about the additional difficulties available in the campaign, I was sold.


Mechanics:

This is a short-and sweet game, and not mechanically heavy. Here are a few mechanics present in this Coop:
– Hand Management

– Multi-use cards
– Action/Events
– Combo/Card Chaining
–  Track Movement

Areas they did well: 

  • Thematic Tie-In
  • Fantastic art
  • Short but satisfying game with a quick playtime.
  • Interesting mechanism (multi-use cards/symbology pairing) to make it coop
  • Solo as well as the standard co-op mode
  • Lots of replayability
  • Easily digestible rules and fast to introduce to new gamers
  • Very portable – can take anywhere for some fast fun
  • Witty card text and titles
  • Nice components (plastic cubes, custom wooden cat meeple, cat tracker, etc)
  • Affordable as well as the small size is better vs environmental impact and shipping
  • Limited turn choices for snappy turns and minimal downtime. You are always in the game.
  • Variable Set-up
  • Persistent and stacking negative effects for cat cards you choose to ignore or can’t deal with quickly.
  • Maintaining a game “timer” of sorts by having a limit of 9 combined Hissy fit instant effects on flipped up cat cards. If you don’t win or get scratched up too bad that is.


Areas they could have improved:

  • I wanted a harder mode, but there are harder modes in a small add on pack
  • It’s nit-picky, but I’d prefer wooden cubes (fine with recycled plastic)
  • I’d like a little more punishment for Hissy Fits, when you get 3 tokens and flip a card
  • I got mixed up a couple of times with the mutli-use card icons as sometimes the box encompassed all the icons (You had access to them all) and sometimes they were separate boxes and you had to choose between them. I think the separate boxes could be further apart so they were appropriately spaced for quicker reference.


Overall: 

I wish I had gotten a chance at the solo mode, but unfortunately, I did not. That’s on me as I forgot to ask! As a result, I can’t really speak to it. I do know that originally the game was a 1-2 player game so it feels safe to say that it would be playable and enjoyable as it was one of the primary ways it was tested until more recently. As for the Co-op version which I did get a couple of games in, I think it’s the board game equivalent to your “easy listening” or “feel good” playlist. It’s light, but as the theme and art suggests, it’s really silly and playful, so don’t think too much into it and just have some fun trying to tell a cat that you’re right, they are wrong and you’re the boss! And see how that goes for you. I’m reminded of a saying that dogs have owners and cats have staff.

Final Thoughts:  

I had a blast catching up with a friend and checking out the new game, Hissy Fit. As I’m writing this, less than 12 hours into their campaign, it’s already funded and will continue to climb. Check this one out folks and see what you think! You might just find out that you are in fact up to the challenge and you can definitely get a cat in a carrier. How hard could it be? Right? Alright, enough playing around, I’m predicting a smooth campaign with a firm finish. I Wish this team all the best and hope to see more titles in the future!

I’ll see you next time, back here at The Game Table,

Zerility

 

Here’s a link to the live Kickstarter campaign and the website:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1254790798/hissyfit0

 

https://www.stoneagedistractions.com/hissyfit

 

 

After reading Brad’s review, if this sounds like a game for you at the time of this posting Hissy Fit! will be live on KICKSTARTER  until Mon, February 6 2023 5:08 AM PST, and has surpassed its funding goal of $6,000. Check it out and back it HERE.
Find out more at BGG.

Did you back it based on our review? Please comment below letting us know!

 

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Check out Hissy Fit! and Stone Age Distractions on:

 



Brad Hiscock, aka “Zerility”, is a construction project manager and electrician by trade who was the owner of a 6-time award winning electrical company. His passion for board games has led him from playing hundreds of original titles to creating a design and publishing company of his own, Convivial Games. As an up and coming collaborator on many projects, he is always eager to try new games and meet new people.

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All of Brad Hiscock, aka “Zerility”‘s reviews can be found HERE.

 



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