App Review: Cat Match

Today we have a brief review of a fun and addictive tile-matching game called Cat Match. In this game, you are the manager of a cat rescue center. As cats come in to your admissions wing, you get them ready for rehoming by playing match-three games to fill in their “attribute bars.” When the bars are filled in, the cat moves on to the cat wing, ready to be adopted. It sounds simple, and we found the game very easy to pick up and play, though there is a bit of a learning curve at the start, when you spend some of your coins to set up your cat wing and stock it with supplies.

Yes, I said “spend some of your coins.” Because besides being a fun match-three game, Cat Match requires you to manage your rescue center. This is not too difficult, though it is easy to spend your coins faster than you earn them, as some cats need vaccinations, neutering, grooming, or pain relief before they can be adopted. Some of them even need x-rays or treatment for diabetes. And of course they need food and bedding.

The match-three portion of Cat Match.

You can also expand your center to take care of more cats, and you can add things like a lab, a vet block, laundry, gift shop, and café. Then there’s the supplies to buy for each admissions wing and cat wing, drugs for the vet block, books for the gift shop, toys for the behavior suite…

Yes, you do have to watch your coins, but no, it’s not too difficult. Of course, if you run low, you can always make in-app purchases. The app is free to download, and we think the additional coins are reasonably priced, at 1,000 coins for 99 cents, 2,500 for $2.99, or 5,000 for $4.99. The best part is that the profits go toward helping cats in real life, through Cats Protection, a UK feline charity that helps over 200,000 cats each year.

You'll be rehoming sad cats like Molly, whose
former owners just got bored with her.

We found Cat Match to be really enjoyable to play. The match-three part is fairly easy, and it’s fun to watch the cat you’re playing for go from looking sad and unwell to happy and healthy. I say the matching is generally easy, but if you take too long at it, the cat will become too stressed and will have to go to the recovery wing until he feels better. So there is that pressure to actually help the cat instead of stressing him out.

And there is always another cat to play for. Often, our admissions wing is full and we’re matching, matching, matching as we try to make room for the new arrivals waiting to get in. We tell ourselves, “They’re not real cats. They’re not real cats,” but still, it’s hard to stop playing.

So, if you love cats, enjoy match-three, and would like to do some light management as an additional challenge, all while helping real cats with any real money you spend, try Cat Match. It's  available for iOS and Android devices.

Highly recommended!

Check out the video: