Cat Trap Strategy: How to Catch the Cat

Updated September 2026

Cat Trap is a hex-grid puzzle with a simple goal: surround the cat before it escapes. Each time you fill a hex with a block, the cat takes one step along the shortest path to the edge of the board. Win by leaving it with no open neighbours; lose if it walks off the board. It looks like a reflex game, but it is really about thinking two or three moves ahead. This guide explains how the cat moves and how to build a trap that holds.

Understand the cat's logic

The cat is not random. After every block you place, it moves one hex along the shortest route to any edge. That makes it predictable. Before placing a block, work out which edge the cat is heading for and which path it will take. Your block should interfere with that path, ideally in a way that leaves the cat with only longer routes.

Because the cat always picks a shortest path, it is often torn between several routes of equal length. Blocking one of them may simply send it down the other. Look for the point where several routes pass through the same hex, and block there.

Do not block right next to the cat

The most common beginner mistake is placing blocks on the hexes touching the cat. It feels like closing in, but the cat has six neighbours and you only place one block per turn, while it moves every turn. Blocking adjacent hexes just makes it step sideways, and you never catch up.

Instead, place blocks two or three hexes away, in the direction it is travelling. By the time the cat gets there, you have had several turns to build a wall, and the cat arrives at a barrier rather than an open field.

Build a ring, not a line

A straight line of blocks only delays the cat, because it can walk around the ends. What you want is a curved barrier, part of a ring around the cat, that forces it to turn back into the area you are closing. Start the ring on the side closest to the edge the cat is heading for, then extend it around both sides.

Use the pre-placed blocks already on the board. They are free walls, and linking your ring to them saves several turns. Early levels have more of them, which is why they are easier.

Late levels need planning from the first move

Each new level starts with fewer pre-placed blocks, so there is less help. On these levels, your first two or three blocks decide the game. If the cat starts near an edge, focus everything on that side. If it starts near the centre, place your first blocks to cut off its most direct routes, then tighten the ring as it moves.

Finishing the trap

Once the cat is inside a closed ring, you do not need to rush. It can wander inside, but it cannot leave. Fill the remaining open hexes inside the ring steadily, always blocking the hex the cat would move to next. The cat is caught when all six of its neighbours are blocked.

A practical plan

1. Before each block, trace the cat's shortest path to the edge.
2. Block where several of its routes share a hex, not right next to it.
3. Build a curved barrier on the side of the edge it is heading for.
4. Connect your barrier to existing blocks to save turns.
5. Once the ring is closed, fill the inside until the cat has no moves.

Cat Trap stops being frustrating once you stop chasing the cat and start predicting it. Block ahead, curve your walls, and the cat will walk straight into the trap you prepared.