Isle of Penguins Heads to Kickstarter in July

Frank West has announced The Isle of Penguins, a standalone companion to The Isle of Cats coming to Kickstarter on July 7, 2026. Unlike most sequels, this one began with a dataset: West spent six years collecting over a million plays from the digital versions of Isle of Cats, alongside feedback from Kickstarter backers, YouTube comments, social media, and BoardGameGeek. The result is a game that allegedly plays 20–30% faster than Isle of Cats standard mode, while also giving players more to do each turn. Artist Dragolisco, who illustrated Isle of Cats, is returning for the new game.

What Changed

The biggest structural change is simultaneous play. Isle of Penguins introduces a new selection system where players draft at the same time rather than in sequence, cutting the downtime that can slow Isle of Cats in larger groups.

Scoring also moves into the game rather than piling up at the end. Where Isle of Cats resolves most of its points in a final tally, Isle of Penguins has players accumulating score throughout, which keeps the game state more discernible and reduces the swings of a single end-game calculation.

The tetromino-style cat shapes that define the original game have been simplified to squares and rectangles only. West traded that complexity over to the boards themselves. The raft boards in Isle of Penguins have more restrictive placement areas, meaning the puzzle is still there, just shifted from piece shape to board navigation. Players are rescuing penguins from a melting ice floe rather than cats from a burning island, but the design should feel immediately familiar.

The game boasts three difficulty modes: Family, Standard, and Expert. They cover the spread from new players to experienced ones, with the Expert mode adding back complexity for groups who want it.

Sitting Alongside, Not Replacing

West has been direct about his intent, stating, “I wanted to design a game to sit alongside The Isle of Cats, rather than replace it.” The original has now sold over 250,000 physical copies since 2019, approaching 500,000 when digital and spin-off versions are included, so there’s clearly no urgency to retire it. Isle of Penguins is positioned as the faster option for groups short on time or with newer players, not a revision that makes the original obsolete.

Kickstarter

The campaign opens July 7, 2026 on the game’s Kickstarter page, where you can sign up to be notified at launch. Retail release is expected in 2027. No pricing has been announced yet.

If you are already an Isle of Cats fan, this one is worth watching closely. The changes West made are precisely the ones long-time players tend to cite as friction in the original, and six years of data is a rigorous foundation for a redesign.