Pack the Essentials

You are packing a suitcase, and the cats keep climbing in. Over twelve rounds you draft tiles from a shared pool into your case grid: clothes and travel items, cats, kittens and their toys. At the end you score for the largest block of each colour, for cats packed with their toys, and for items on your to-do list. Each round you take one tile from the display and place it, and the leftovers shift so the choice keeps changing. With fewer than four players, an automated opponent removes tiles each round to keep the pressure realistic, and it makes the solo game work. It is light, quick and gentle, done in half an hour, and the cats do much of the charm. Good for a couple, for a table with a twelve-year-old, or as an easy starter before a heavier tile game like Calico.