ねこの間

Cats stroll across the tatami, and the room fills up.

A cat only drops coins when it passes the middle of the mat. A cat stuck behind another one pays nothing until it gets there — and cats never step aside. Clearing the jam is your job.

Spilled tea, a cushion left out, a ball of fur. Tap the clutter off the tatami and the cats start moving again. Butterflies and golden paper cranes drift by now and then. Catch them.

Spend your coins on more mats and more cats will come. The more cats, the easier it jams. That tension is the whole game.

■ Forty cats to collect A kitten, a calico, a bobtail, a beckoning cat, a kotatsu cat, a moon-viewing cat, a two-tailed nekomata, and a cat god. Each one carries its own small story — tap it in the encyclopedia to read it.

■ Start over, keep the multiplier Re-lay the room and you keep a permanent multiplier based on everything you have earned. Collecting all forty runs through it.

■ It runs while you are away The cats keep walking with the app closed. A treasure chest appears every four hours and stacks up to four, so a day away costs you nothing.

■ A room, a garden, a pond Paper screens, a hanging scroll, a folding screen, a stone lantern, an engawa. Goldfish circle the pond outside. The room grows as you add mats.

Watch it idle, or clear every mess yourself. Play it at whatever distance suits you.