Neko Atsume: A Short Story on Games, Cats & Addiction
I am a dog person.
Yet, somehow, Neko Atsume, a mobile phone game designed for Japanese cat lovers, sucked me right in. Yup, you heard me right. A game for Japanese cat lovers.
How did this happen?
How did I, a cat-allergic, dog-loving, not to mention fairly busy person, suddenly find myself spending time collecting virtual cats?!
I first heard about the game from a few interaction designers at work, who enthusiastically shared their cat collections with me. I was dubious, but decided to give it a go anyway.
Turns out my colleagues and I are not alone.
Over 55,000 4.5-star reviews rave about this Japanese-only game, with titles like “It keeps me from becoming a cat hoarder”, “More Fun than I’d Like to Admit,” and “Download this MEOW!” And that’s just in the US.
Neko Atsume, which roughly translates to “cat gathering”, is fun. It’s addictive. Even if you can’t read a lick of Japanese. Which I can’t, in case you were wondering.
Let’s get to what makes this game the cat’s meow, shall we?
1. It’s paws-itively easy to play.
The premise of Neko Atsume is simple: attract cats to your yard by leaving out toys and food. The cats will leave you fish in return, providing the currency* you can then use to buy more toys and more food.
The opening tutorial walks you through the buying process and how to leave food and toys in the yard. That’s it, you’re ready to play.
*Yes, of course you can buy virtual fish currency with real money. And no, I haven’t gone that far…yet.
2. It’s a classic cat-and-mouse game.
You never know what you’re going to find when you open the app, thanks to a large and growing roster of possible cats that keep you eager to sign-in. Each cat has different preferences for toys and food, and it’s up to you to figure out which combinations work. There are also “rare” cats that will only visit under specific conditions. These cats often bear a striking and hilarious resemblance to celebrities — my favorite is Anna Wintour-cat.
There’s no way to know exactly when they’ll come, or if you’ll be there to see them. Of course, that doesn’t stop people from trying, with a plethora of blog posts, articles, and reddit threads devoted to getting the most out of your yard.
3. The game has nine lives. And then some.
The real masterstroke of Neko Atsume is that there is no princess to save, no final battle to be won, no mission to accomplish. It truly is about the small satisfaction of seeing a cat play with a ball of yarn in your garden. Perhaps that’s why it attracts so many devoted fans: a love of cats can’t, and shouldn’t, have an end.
I’m always eager to learn more about what makes an app a “must-have” — what causes it to transition from download and open once to frequent daily use. If that’s something you care about, I’d suggest giving Neko Atsume a go.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go feed my cats.
Many thanks to my colleagues Andrew Lovett Barron, Adam Cristobal, and Wenting Guo for introducing me to Neko Atsume.
Download it here: iPhone or Android
