VenRod loses three times to KC Cat Four at the Ole Ole Bar

27 October 2026 · 17:30 · VenRod

Zurich – 27 October 2026, 17:30. Ole Ole Bar, my usual stool by the window, a glass of apple juice going warm and my phone lying flat on the counter between two notebooks.

An innocent beginning

I only wanted to check that the new game works before I recommend it to readers. KC Cat Four is four-in-a-row: you drop cats, the computer drops dogs, and whoever gets four in a line wins. On easy, I won in nine moves. On medium, in fourteen, with some sweat. Then I tapped "hard". That was a mistake, or an education. I am still deciding which.

Three defeats, carefully recorded

Game one: the dogs built a quiet diagonal while I was admiring my own column. Game two: I blocked everything on the left and lost on the right. Game three: I thought for four minutes before every move, the barman refilled my juice twice, and the dogs won anyway, politely, in the bottom corner. I wrote all three games down move by move, with arrows. My notebook now looks like a battle plan drawn by a nervous general.

Study first, play later

So I did what DeeNice and I do with any artist we admire: I studied the work instead of complaining about it. The hard dogs like the centre column. They never waste a move on the edge unless they must. They set two threats at once and let you choose which one to lose to. Honestly, that is good composition. A strong mural also pulls your eye to the middle and then surprises you on the side.

A question for later

In my book of "questions for later" there is a new line: "Do the dogs ever get nervous?" I suspect not. That is their advantage and also, perhaps, their weakness. Tomorrow I will try opening in the centre myself and see if they respect a cat who has done his homework.

Your turn

If you think you can do better (many of you can, I am a bookish cat), the board is waiting at KC Cat Four. Two-player mode works too, if you have a friend and a table.

Losing is just studying with the lights on.

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