If you love a fun, fast-paced card game like us, you will love Rat-a-tat-cat.  Anya was gifted this card game a little while ago and we are addicted!  And the bonus is that this is a card game that helps with maths skills, especially addition.

Rat-a-tat-cat is a card game all about numbers and memory with the aim being to get the lowest total. Each of the cards has a number value and they are all either rats or cats on the cards.  The rats are the dirty higher numbered cards you want to avoid and the cats are the cool lower value cards that you want to get.   The player with the lowest total wins. It’s an easy game to get to grips with and has good mix of chance and skill so it’s not only the adults who can win.  In fact we are so often beaten by Anya!

Each individual game lasts no more than a couple of minutes so the game is easy to squeeze in anytime and you never get a chance to get bored.  But if you want a longer game which is always what we go for, you just keep totalling up scores to a set number like 100 or 150 and the first player to get this loses.  The game is basically a pack of cards so really easy to take along with you on a trip away – great for plane or train journeys .  It’s probably best for ages 6 years and up and is a fun way to sneak in a bit of maths too.

Rat-a-tat-cat is such a simple game, yet so addictive.  And since its a card game that helps with maths skills in a really fun way, it just makes it even better for me.  It’s won many awards but it’s not difficult to see why.  My UK readers can find the game here and my US readers here.