Russia — a world guide
Snow is falling on Red Square, and nobody seems to mind one bit. The onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral twist up into the sky like scoops of swirled sherbet, snowflakes drift past, and a little snowman keeps cheerful watch below. Every cat in the crowd has bundled up in an ushanka — the wonderful Russian fur hat with the fold-down ear flaps — so the whole square looks like one big huddle of warm, furry heads.
Somewhere in all that cozy sameness hides the one critter from the poster, and finding them is the whole game. Tap when you're sure; a wrong guess costs nothing, because Catchmemeow can't be lost. We'll warn you, though — this world plays things close to the chest. Its four treasures are all the blending-in kind, and one of them is technically a spy. Take your time. The snow isn't going anywhere, and neither is the crowd.
What to look for in Russia
Four treasures hide in the snow here, and every single one is rare — the blends-right-into-the-crowd kind, with no helpful bobbing to give it away. Slow eyes win in this square. (The usual world-hoppers — Cameow Sandiego, Schrödinger's Kit, Penny the Pug, and Mika — can drift through too, same as everywhere.) Here's who and what to watch for:
- Boris the Double Agent — a pug in dark glasses who insists he is just a normal tourist, da, and certainly does not know where all the snacks are hidden. (He knows.)
- Catarina the Great — the most regal empress-cat in the land, crowned with a jeweled kokoshnik and ruling her snowy palace fairly, mostly from a velvet throne, mostly asleep.
- The Matryoshka — a cheery nesting doll with a smaller doll inside her, and a smaller one inside that. Dolls all the way down.
- The Fabergé Egg — a golden egg crusted with jewels, twinkling on its little stand. Much too fancy to crack, and exactly fancy enough for a cat to bat at once or twice.
Tips for grown-ups
- Warm up before the hunt: trace the swirls on St. Basil's domes with a finger, wave at the little snowman, and watch a few snowflakes drift down together.
- All four treasures here blend in, so sweep the square slowly, one patch at a time. "Who's wearing sunglasses in a snowstorm?" makes an excellent Boris detector.
- Practice the big rolly words out loud — ushanka, matryoshka, kokoshnik. Saying them is half the fun.
- Wrong taps cost nothing and the game can't be lost, so let little fingers wander. The snow will wait.
One more thing…
Ushanka means, more or less, "ear hat" — it comes from ushi, the Russian word for ears, because the flaps fold down when the weather gets serious. Cat ears, we've noticed, tend to poke out anyway.