Before I get started this morning, I wanted to apologize first for the long delay in posts due to preparing for and then attending PAX Unplugged. It was a great experience, exciting and exhausting and leads me to today’s topic: my new game Affectionate: Cats and Cuddles and the story behind it.

For those who have not played Affectionate yet, it is a simple, light dice game where the goals is to be the be the most cuddled cat in the house by collecting the most cuddle tokens. Gameplay is equally simple as the goal, everyone rolls a pair of dice to see what as a cat they have done and take the indicated action and keep going until there are no cuddle tokens left in the middle.

As I mention in the rulebook, I made Affectionate in loving memory of a cat who was very, very sweet but not the sharpest tool in the shed. His name is Moku. He had a happy life after my family adopted him and a few years ago passed away. Now he had a great impact on my life teaching me to enjoy the simple pleasures and in determination. So I wanted to remember him and share some of the adorableness and love he gave in my family’s life to the rest of the world.

This endeavor started while I was working on completing Collectors and Capers and so took my time to think about what I wanted Affectionate to look like in terms of gameplay. So to accomplish this task I thought of Moku’s defining characteristics: he was sweet and he was a simple cat. So I made a game about cats being sweet that would be simple to play; simple enough that he could pick up on it.

Now Affectionate is released and at PAX Unplugged it was well received. That being said the best part about all of this is that I see family’s enjoying Affectionate and know that his love and sweetness continue on.