![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
![“I think getting up in the morning and having a sense of purpose [is exciting]. I think without a certain amount of drive, life is kind of obsolete and mundane, and I think having that every single day is what makes each day unique and kind of makes life exciting,” Neymika Jain (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-4.54.16-PM.png)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you aren't going to get those championships if you aren't fast,” Angel Cervantes (12) said. “I want to do well in school on my tests and in track and win championships for my team. I live by that, [and] I can do that anywhere: in the classroom or on the field.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC5146-900x601.jpg)
![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Nestled deep in a forest, cats cook soup in a cozy village. They work around the clock to create masterful dishes and earn enough money to live in luxury.
While this charming scenario may seem like a fantasy, it comes to life in the idle mobile game Cats & Soup. The main gameplay includes multiple cooking facilities, where cats chop vegetables like carrots and cabbage. All stations are located in the overlying cat forest, where they can be arranged and personalized, and each station comes with one new cat. Every cat possesses a specific skill aligning with a station and a star rating ranging from one to five. Because each station is controlled by a different cat, a correct cat-station pairing can generate more gold.
The cats from the vegetable stations bring their products to the soup station, where another cat makes vegetable soup. The soup can then be sold to earn gold for purchasing new facilities and upgrading stations.
From time to time, different functions such as photo opportunities, hot air balloons and cat or jar fairy gifts may pop up. The photo opportunities show up on the bottom right side of the screen, and an internal photo function takes pictures of the cats in their forest, giving the player some gold in return. Hot air balloons emerge periodically in the forest, where they can be tapped in order to “shake” their gold out. Gifts from the player’s cats appear on the bottom right as well. Jar fairy gifts are accessed through watching advertisements, so they offer more gold than any other activity.
Along with gold, players collect four other currencies: recipe points, stamps, furniture coins and gems. Players can use recipe points from rest stations to upgrade cooking stations. Stamps accumulate with each ad, and they are used to purchase decorations.
Furniture coins, a currency for furniture decoration in mini-cat rooms, and gems, a currency for changing the appearance and skill of the cats, only appear in gifts, so they can be difficult to collect. Decorating mini rooms is one of my favorite parts of the game. With a diverse range of furniture and many avenues to collect different furniture pieces, there are countless ways to make the rooms unique and suited for each individual cat.
While the game is usually enjoyable, it comes with many advertisements, which can detract from the playing experience. The ads are optional to watch, but certain rewards can only be gained through them. Most of the mini games and events function entirely off of ads, so the game is more fulfilling when I watch them. To counter the annoyance of sitting through advertisements, I usually watch YouTube videos or movies while playing.
Whether I need to resist boredom, decompress or merely keep my hands busy, Cats & Soup always delights me with its charming ambiance. Watching the little cats run around the forest never fails to make me smile, even on the roughest days.
