Great news, everyone!

I’ve discovered how to be the proverbial “crazy cat lady” and still only have one cat! Yes, it’s called “virtual reality”…or imaginary cats, or, to be precise, Neko Atsume!

I will admit that I came across this “app” purely by accident. (You might remember that I mentioned this awhile back in “You Might Be a Cat Owner”.)  I had seen these really cute cat drawings along with the name Neko Atsume so I logically (?) assumed that was the name of the artist. I looked it up and found out it was a “game” where you collect cats. (Since it’s not one of my “two and a half languages”, I just found out today that “Neko Atsume” is Japanese for “Cat Collector”.)

So as it turns out, all you do is put “food” and “toys” out in your “yard” and wait for the cats to show up. If you happen to check your yard and you have cats in there, you “collect” them by taking their picture for your cat album. The trick is not to forget to check, because once the cats are finished “playing” with the toys and eating the food, they leave, but they “pay” you in silver or gold fish. You then use the fish to “buy” more food and toys. The good thing (for me anyway) is that if you don’t “feed” them, they don’t die or anything, they just don’t come to your yard. When you click on “Gifts Await” you will find out which cats came to your yard and what they left you in exchange for the food and playtime. Since I don’t check it that often, I usually end up just finding out what cats were in my yard, so I just accept all the gifts, refill the food, and forget about it again. But apparently if you analyze the gifts left by the different cats, and you are vigilant, you can “lure” certain ones by using the correct treats. However, I refuse to waste the amount of time it would require just to catch imaginary cats. (I’d much rather be reading DIY ideas on Pinterest…)According to this, I have just missed Tubbs, one of the “harder to attract” cats, (of whom I have only two photos), and Kathmandu, who I have never actually seen. You can tell I haven’t caught him because the “photo” is blacked out. Once you “photograph” a cat in your yard, he or she will show up in your “cat album”.

If you do happen to see cats in your yard, you click on the “camera” from the menu.

The cats are already named, although you can change them if you want. The only one I’ve changed was “Patsy”, because they originally had her named “Pasty” and somehow that wasn’t as cute.I think Joe DiMeowgio is one of the cutest names. You pretty much only catch him when you put out the baseball.

When you look at their albums you can see some other pertinent information. You will notice that while “Ginger” has been in my yard at total of 14 times, I have only actually seen her three times. You can see the main items she has played with, and that she has a Power Level of 60. Wait, cats have power levels???

I had to Google the power levels to see what they were, and this is the explanation.

Occasionally one of your cats will “present” you with a “memento” such as a puzzle piece or a worn postcard. I guess it’s basically whatever cats would find outside and think a person might like as a token of their affection. Apparently you can “collect them all” as well. While we are on the subject of collecting, your goal for this game seems to be to collect all the cats. Along with the list pictured earlier in this post, these are the ones I have so far. You’ll see a couple of names overlapped, because I was doing screenshots and they show exactly eight at a time.

And now, the good stuff!

You can get Neko Atsume products! Just look on Amazon or google “Neko Atsume” and you will find a ton of super cute plushies and other items that you absolutely have to get! (Truth in blogging: I haven’t actually bought any of these items yet, but I have my eye on a few…)

They even have a replica of the Neko Atsume cafe for your real cat! This was on a website called Petio.com, but I couldn’t find a price for it anywhere, and most of the text was in Japanese. 

I’ve been planning this post for awhile, because what could be more whimsical than imaginary cats? (Besides whimsical armadillos, I mean.) Then all of a sudden I found out (read below) that I’m not the first person who ever thought of writing about Neko Atsume on their blog! How come I always think stuff was my idea and then find out it wasn’t?

I guess there really is nothing new under the sun!