Cat Wash is an interesting time management style game for the PC. The main feature that sets this game apart from other time management games is the employees need to be managed in addition to the customers. Players have to get the cats washed, but also watch the employees hearts and give them a break when they request one. Of course, employees going on break causes things to get backed up.

The story starts out with a girl needing to wash her cat. Cats are not known for loving baths and she wishes there was an easier way to get the cat washed. In comes her uncle with just the solution, a cat washing machine. The machine works so well they decide to go into business washing cats. Now everyone can get their cats washed with ease.

Cat Wash starts out with one cat washing station and a drying station. There is one employee to manage both stations. Cats come in and a little bubble determines if they need to be washed or dried. The player picks the cat up and puts them on the conveyor belt. The cat is brought to the washing station where they are washed and put back on the conveyor belt. The cat will either need to be dried or will be ready to go home. The employee needs to be moved from the washing station to the drying stations for the cats to be dried. As the levels progress and more employees are added, the cats will prefer a girl or boy washes them. This is denoted by the pink or blue bubble over their head.

Players will not only need to attend to the cat’s needs and keep them happy, but they will need to tend to their employees needs too. The employees have hearts above their heads just like the cats. If the employees are busy, their hearts start disappearing. When the hearts are gone, the player will get a bubble over their head that indicates they want a break. If the player is not given a break, they will eventually take a break. The break allows the employee to gain their hearts back. The longer their break, the more hearts they gain, but the more things get backed up.

Like most time management games, the “customers”, in this case the cats, have hearts above their heads. The longer things take, the more unhappy they get until they walk off the table and walk away. There is a way to improve the cats mood though, put them in the middle in the disco area. The disco area improves the cat’s moods and players can put the cats that are walking away into the disco area to stop them from walking away.

As the game progresses, there are more stations added, like a clipping station and more employees too. There is  always one less employee than station and sometimes the employees get sick and need to take the day off. In that case, one employee has to run the entire show and that becomes challenging.

Players gain money as they complete levels. Players can use the money to upgrade their equipment, such as faster washers and even automatic washing stations. The automatic washing station is a nice feature, but I found it was hard to use. I would drag the cat over to the station and the cat would not go into the washer. Occasionally, I was able to get a cat in the automatic washer, but I wasn’t sure how I managed to do that so it was really hard to reproduce.

The graphics in Cat Wash are appealing and all fit the disco theme. Some of the employees have big disco hair and all the employees dance at their stations.

Over all, the game is enjoying to play, but does offer it’s fair share of challenge. Gamers that are use to time management style games will still find this game challenging and fun to play. Keeping the employees happy is something new and adds one more thing to keep track of. If you are a fan of time management games, check out Cat Wash, you won’t be disappointed.