A little black cat stands in the middle of the screen while ghosts drift towards her. Each ghost carries a symbol. Draw the right shape quickly enough and Momo can deal with it; hesitate while studying the next one and the classroom becomes rather crowded.
Magic Cat Academy is one of Google’s most inviting Halloween diversions. The earlier games remain in the Doodle archive, so there is no need to wait for a particular homepage appearance to play them.
Start with the haunted school
The 2016 game sends Momo through five school locations, from the library to the rooftop. Casting spells means swiping the shapes shown above approaching ghosts.
Google’s account of its development gives a useful glimpse of the design decisions. The team considered more elaborate gestures, then chose simpler ones for a short game played under time pressure. The character was inspired by a real black cat belonging to Doodler Juliana Chen.
That simplicity leaves room for the player to pay attention to the changing screen. Reading a symbol is straightforward in isolation. Choosing what to draw next while several threats approach is the actual problem. A small vocabulary can produce plenty of urgency.
Then take Momo underwater
The 2020 sequel moves the adventure into the ocean. Its levels descend through different depths, with creatures including an immortal jellyfish, a vampire squid and an anglerfish providing inspiration.
The archive page also includes sketches and animation explorations. Those are worth a look after playing: you can compare an early idea with the finished scene and notice how much character has to fit into a brief movement.
Changing the setting gives the familiar black silhouette new surroundings. It also offers a pleasing Halloween combination: an imaginary ghost story passing through a world populated by animals that already look surprising without any supernatural help.
The third adventure goes up
In the 2024 edition, Momo heads through the atmosphere in pursuit of the ghost Marshmallow. School, ocean and sky make three distinct backdrops for the series, while the central appeal remains easy to recognise.
These links lead to the archived 2016, 2020 and 2024 games. They are a small collection to revisit, rather than an announcement of a new Halloween release.
Playing them in order is a useful way to compare how much a setting can change the feel of a simple interaction. You already know what it means to draw a spell, leaving more attention available for the characters and the way each encounter is staged.
A small Halloween session
Open an archive page and use its play button to launch the game. Give yourself room to make clear gestures, and follow the instructions shown in the game. If you are sharing the screen, taking turns makes it easier to see which threats another player notices first.
You can also watch for the moment your attention shifts from identifying a shape to anticipating the next one. That change is part of the pleasure of learning a compact game: an action that initially needs concentration becomes available quickly enough to combine with another decision.
For more feline games, our look at cats in video games offers a wider starting point. Momo suits a shorter appointment. There is a school to rescue, and the ghosts have already begun arriving.
